BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Genetically Modified Organisms: Crops

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent discussions he has had with representatives of the GM industry about his policy on granting approval for the planting of genetically modified crops.

David Willetts: Authorising the planting of GM crops is a matter for the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for North Shropshire (Mr Paterson).

Genetically Modified Organisms: Crops

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent discussions he has had with scientists sceptical about the planting of genetically modified crops.

David Willetts: The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, the right hon. Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable) has had no recent discussions. However, I meet scientists with a range of views on GM. I hope to meet my hon. Friend with scientists sceptical of GM on the 17 July this year.

Patents

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many UK patents have been granted to UK-registered companies in each of the last 10 years.

Jo Swinson: Patents having effect in the United Kingdom can be granted by the Intellectual Property Office (UK national patents) or the European Patent Office (European patents designating the United Kingdom). Information on whether an applicant is a registered UK company is not recorded as part of the granting process but this information can be estimated through analysis. On the basis of such analysis, the number of patents granted to UK-registered companies that have effect in the United Kingdom is estimated in the following table:
	
		
			 Number 
			 Calendar year Granted UK national patents from UK-registered companies Granted European (UK) patents from UK-registered companies Total patents with UK effect from UK-registered companies 
			 2003 2,559 2,301 4,860 
			 2004 2,721 2,196 4,917 
			 2005 2,738 1,904 4,642 
			 2006 2,133 2,021 4,154 
			 2007 1,439 1,728 3,167 
		
	
	
		
			 2008 1,463 1,804 3,267 
			 2009 1,579 1,517 3,096 
			 2010 1,678 1,694 3,372 
			 2011 2,218 1,786 4,004 
			 2012 2,148 1,869 4,017

Public Bodies

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  what the name is of each member of (a) the Office for Fair Access, (b) each regional development agency, (c) the Regulatory Policy Committee, (d) the Science and Technology Facilities Council, (e) the Student Loans Company, (f) the Technology Strategy Board, (g) the UK Atomic Energy Authority and (h) the UK Commission for Employment and Skills as at 1 January 2013; and what the (i) declared ethnicity, (ii) term of office and (iii) remuneration is of each such member;
	(2)  what the name is of each member of (a) the Film Industry Training Board, (b) the Higher Education Funding Council for England, (c) the Industrial Development Advisory Board, (d) the Insolvency Practitioners Tribunal, (e) the Land Registration Rule Committee, (f) the Low Pay Commission, (g) the Medical Research Council and (h) Natural Environment Research Council as at 1 January 2013; and what the (i) declared ethnicity, (ii) term of office and (iii) remuneration is of each such member;
	(3)  what the name is of each member of (a) the Competition Service, (b) the Construction Industry Training Board, (c) Consumer Focus, (d) the Copyright Tribunal, (e) the Council for Science and Technology, (f) Economic and Social Research Council, (g) the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and (h) the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board as at 1 January 2013; and what the (i) declared ethnicity, (ii) term of office and (iii) remuneration is of each such member;
	(4)  what the name is of each member of (a) the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, (b) the Arts and Humanities Research Council, (c) the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, (d) the British Hallmarking Council, (e) Capital for Enterprise Limited, (f) the Central Arbitration Committee, (g) the Competition Appeals Tribunal and (h) the Competition Commission as at 1 January 2013; and what the (i) declared ethnicity, (ii) term of office and (iii) remuneration is of each such member.

Jo Swinson: The information requested is being collated and will be sent to the right hon. Member, and placed in the Libraries of the House, shortly.
	In line with Cabinet Office guidance, the ethnicity of members representing these bodies is not published, as the information is provided confidentially. The information is collected at application stage for inclusion in the statistics published by Cabinet Office and the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA) which is anonymised.
	OCPA publishes anonymised ethnicity information on a yearly basis for appointments and reappointments within their remit.
	The latest information can be found at:
	http://publicappointmentscommissioner.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/FINAL-OCPA-Statistics-2011-12-2.pdf

Regional Planning and Development

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the effects on regional growth of the Government's welfare reforms.

Michael Fallon: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills monitors sub-national economic performance through official data sources and surveys; however, this aggregate level data does not facilitate the identification of impacts specifically attributable to the Government's welfare reforms that will help more people to move into and progress in work, while supporting the most vulnerable.

WALES

Departmental Responsibilities

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many of the meetings listed in the most recent Quarterly Ministerial Transparency return for his Department took place (a) at the premises of the organisations listed, (b) at conferences and (c) at other locations.

Stephen Crabb: Meetings take place at a variety of locations, including Wales Office premises, at the organisations being met and at other locations.

Departmental Responsibilities

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many of the visits to media outlets undertaken by Ministers in his Department and declared on the most recent Quarterly Ministerial Transparency return were for interviews.

Stephen Crabb: None.

Disciplinary Proceedings

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many staff were suspended from his Department on full pay in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12 and (c) 2012-13; and what costs were incurred as a result of such suspensions.

Stephen Crabb: None.

Employment: Young People

Owen Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of Jobs Growth Wales in tackling youth unemployment in Wales.

David Jones: Jobs Growth Wales is a Welsh Government initiative and it is up to the Welsh Government to assess its effectiveness.
	However, it is completely ineffective in tackling youth unemployment for young people being supported by the Work programme as the Welsh Government has decided that those individuals are not eligible for support from Jobs Growth Wales.

Foreign Investment in UK

Owen Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what assessment he has made of the role of the UK's membership of the European Union on the level of inward investment into Wales.

David Jones: According to Ernst and Young, in 2012 Wales attracted its highest level of foreign investment for five years.
	When Ernst and Young asked existing and potential inward investors whether a lower degree of integration into the EU would make the UK a more attractive place to invest, 72% of companies interviewed in north America, and 66% of companies in Asia, said a lower degree of EU integration would make the UK a more attractive location for investment.

Official Visits

Owen Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list all official visits that (a) he, (b) his Ministers and (c) his officials have undertaken in the last six months, including the dates of the visit.

Stephen Crabb: Ministerial overseas visits and meetings with external organisations are published on a quarterly basis. The most recent published figures can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk./government/publications/wales-office-quarter-4
	Information for January to March 2013 will be published shortly.
	Information regarding ministerial visits is also published on the Wales Office website at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/wales-office
	Providing the same information for officials would be at disproportionate cost.

Unemployment

Owen Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what assessment he has made of the increase in unemployment in Wales since May 2010.

David Jones: Since the quarter ending May 2010, ILO unemployment in Wales has fallen by 7,000, with the unemployment rate falling by 1.0 percentage point.

Unemployment: Young People

Owen Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what assessment he has made of trends in long-term youth unemployment in Wales since May 2010.

David Jones: This Government is committed to tackling the legacy of long-term youth unemployment left behind by the previous Government. Over the course of the last Parliament (May 2005 to May 2010) long-term youth unemployment in Wales increased by 659%.
	Long-term youth unemployment remains stubbornly high and is currently 93% higher than in May 2010, however it is heading in the right direction with the fourth consecutive monthly fall reported in May 2013.

SCOTLAND

Conditions of Employment

Margaret Curran: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many people in Scotland are employed on zero hours contracts.

Michael Moore: According to ONS data, the figures for zero hours contracts in the UK (non-seasonally adjusted) for October to December 2012 was 200,000. The ONS do not publish the below UK level data as the sample size is too small.

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

Disciplinary Proceedings

Gareth Thomas: To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, representing the House of Commons Commission, how many staff were suspended from the House of Commons Service on full pay in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12 and (c) 2012-13; and what costs were incurred as a result of such suspensions.

John Thurso: The total number of House of Commons Service staff suspended from work in the last three financial years was three. Some of these suspensions covered parts of more than one financial year. All were suspended on full pay. The figures are:
	
		
			  Staff suspended Associated costs(1 )(£) 
			 2010-11 2 0 
			 2011-12 1 £1,098.99 
			 2012-13 0 0 
			 (1) Costs of temporary staff cover.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Disciplinary Proceedings

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Attorney-General how many staff were suspended from the Law Officers' Departments and their associated public bodies on full pay in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12 and (c) 2012-13; and what costs were incurred as a result of such suspensions.

Oliver Heald: The number of staff in the Law Officers' Departments who were suspended on full pay and the associated salary costs for the periods stated are shown in the following table:
	
		
			  2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 
			 Department Number suspended Salary cost (£) Number suspended Salary cost (£) Number suspended Salary cost (£) 
			 CPS(1) 9 98,082 5 62,651 2 14,326 
			 SFO — — 1 1,940 — — 
			 TSol(2) — — 1 8,500 — — 
			 (1) The suspension for two staff which commenced in 2010-11 continued into the 2011-12 year and have therefore been counted in both years. (2) The TSol data also covers the Attorney-General's Office and HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate.

Fraud: Convictions

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General for what offences people were convicted in 2012-13 as a result of Serious Fraud Office investigations; and what sentence was applied in each such case.

Oliver Heald: The SFO records show:
	
		
			 Offender number Offence Sentence (months) 
			 1 Theft Act 1968: false accounting contrary to s.17(1) (1)144 
			  Theft Act 1968: Obtaining money transfer by deception contrary to section 15A (1)— 
			  Fraud Act 2006: fraud by misrepresentation contrary to s1(2) (1)— 
			    
			 2 Companies Act 1985: Fraudulent Trading contrary to s.458 (1)32 
			  Companies Act 2006: Fraudulent Trading contrary to s.993 (1)— 
			    
			 3 Theft Act 1968: False accounting contrary to s.l7(l) (1)90 
			  Criminal Law Act 1977: Conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation, contrary to s1(1) (1)— 
			    
			 4 Proceeds of Crime Act 2002: Money laundering contrary to section 327(1)(d) (1)108 
			  Common Law—conspiracy to defraud (1)— 
			    
			 5 Theft Act 1978: evasion of a liability by deception contrary to s2(l)(a) (1)30 
			  Proceeds of Crime Act 2002: Money laundering contrary to section 327(l)(d) (1)— 
			  Proceeds of Crime Act 2001: Money Laundering contrary to s329 (1)— 
			    
			 6 Common Law—conspiracy to defraud 72 
			 7 Theft Act 1968: Contrary to s1.1 120 
			 8 Common Law—conspiracy to defraud 132 
		
	
	
		
			 9 Common Law—conspiracy to defraud 96 
			    
			 10 Common Law—conspiracy to defraud (1)40 
			  FSMA 2000: Contravened the general prohibition of carrying on a regulated activity without permission (contrary to s19/s23) (1)— 
			 (1) Indicates brace. 
		
	
	The sentences of two offenders are subject to reporting restrictions and cannot be provided. Two offenders convicted in 2012-13 have not yet been sentenced.

Human Trafficking

Stephen Phillips: To ask the Attorney-General how many victims recognised as being trafficked under the National Referral Mechanism were served with a summons and prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service for criminal offences in each of the last five years.

Oliver Heald: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) maintains no central record of the number of prosecutions against victims identified by the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) as having been trafficked. To obtain this information would require a manual check of all case files which would incur disproportionate cost.
	However, the CPS has issued comprehensive legal guidance to advise prosecutors of the steps they should take in cases where the police have arrested potential victims of trafficking who have committed criminal offences and referred them for charge. If information suggests that they have been trafficked, prosecutors are advised to make full inquiries and consider whether the case against them should be discontinued. However, a prosecutor can only take these steps if they have information from the police or other sources that a suspect might be a victim of trafficking.
	The CPS is considering issuing new guidelines to prosecutors following recent cases in the Court of Appeal in which victims of trafficking were prosecuted and convicted, having been advised to plead guilty by their legal representative. The new guidelines will be shared in due course with law enforcement and the Law Society to ensure a joined-up approach in these cases.

Human Trafficking

David Simpson: To ask the Attorney-General what prosecutions there have been for human trafficking offences in the last 12 months for which figures are available.

Oliver Heald: The CPS maintain a record of human trafficking prosecutions by way of a database monitoring flag. A flag is applied at the onset of a case and remains in place even if charges relating to human trafficking offences are subsequently amended or dropped. There were 139 defendant prosecutions, flagged as human trafficking prosecutions, recorded during the most recent 12 month period (April 2012 to March 2013). Details are as follows:
	
		
			 2012-13 
			  Number Rate (percentage) 
			 Convictions 99 71.2 
			 Unsuccessful 40 28.8 
			 Flagged Human Trafficking Prosecutions 139 —

Legal Costs

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Attorney-General what the 20 highest amounts paid for external legal advice by the Law Officers' Departments were in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012; to whom those amounts were paid; and for what reasons the legal advice was sought in each such case.

Oliver Heald: Tables containing the 20 highest amounts paid for external legal advice during the past three years by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), The Treasury Solicitor's Department (TSol) and the past two years by Attorney-General's Office have been placed in the Library of the House. It cannot be guaranteed that the TSol/AGO data is complete, particularly in respect of the older figures. There have been historic problems with record keeping in respect of the time and disbursements incurred for the AGO and TSol's own cases (which are not billed to other Departments). This was addressed and systems are now in place to ensure accurate recording in the future.
	The TSol entries between 2010 and 2012 may also cover some legal representation as well as advice. This is because the available records do not always make a clear distinction between the two areas. It is also not possible to ascertain the specific reasons why legal advice was sought for the CPS records without incurring a disproportionate cost.
	The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) does not routinely distinguish between external legal advice and external litigation (legal representation) services when recording legal expenditure and it is therefore not possible to provide the information requested without incurring a disproportionate cost.
	HMCPSI has not recorded any expenditure on external legal advice since 7 May 2010.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Horses: Animal Welfare

Neil Parish: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what recent representations he has received concerning the hot branding of horses; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what recent discussions he has had with equine welfare and veterinary organisations on the hot branding of horses and ponies; and if he will make a statement.

David Heath: We have received a number of representations from equine welfare organisations on hot branding. While the Government accepts that there is currently a need for semi-wild moorland ponies to be hot branded, we have asked the semi-wild moorland pony societies to prepare a code of practice on hot branding and to continue to look for suitable alternatives.

CABINET OFFICE

Graduates: Lancashire

Jake Berry: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what estimate he has made of the number of unemployed graduates in (a) Lancashire and (b) Rossendale and Darwen constituency.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated June 2013
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of unemployed graduates in (a) Lancashire and (b) Rossendale and Darwen constituency. (160844)
	The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles unemployment statistics for local areas from the Annual Population Survey (APS) following International Labour Organisation (ILO) definitions. Whilst the APS does collect data on graduate unemployment, no reliable statistics can be produced for Lancashire or Rossendale and Darwen constituency due to small sample sizes.
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at:
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk

Conditions of Employment: Wales

Jessica Morden: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the number of workers on zero hours contracts in Wales;
	(2)  how many 16 to 24 year olds in Wales have been on zero hours contracts in each year since 2010.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated June 2013
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Questions asking for the number of workers on zero hours contracts in Wales (160702); and how many 16 to 24 year olds in Wales have been on zero hours contracts in each year since 2010 (160703).
	The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles labour market statistics for local areas from the Annual Population Survey (APS), following International Labour Organisation (ILO) definitions. Estimates of the number of zero hour contracts are not available from this source. Estimates of the number of people on zero-hours contracts are available from the Labour Force Survey, but due to sample size are not available for areas smaller than the UK.
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and Claimant Count are available on the NOMIS website at:
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk

Employment

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the employment rate was in (a) Ashfield constituency, (b) Nottinghamshire and (c) the UK in each year since 2007.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the employment rate was in (a) Ashfield constituency, (b) Nottinghamshire and (c) the UK in each year since 2007. (160953)
	The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles employment statistics for local areas from the Annual Population Survey (APS) following International Labour Organisation (ILO) definitions. Statistics for the UK have been compiled on a comparable basis.
	The table shows the percentage of people aged 16 to 64 resident in the requested areas who were employed, according to survey responses, in the 12 month period ending in December 2012, the latest available period, and for the 12 month periods ending in December from 2007 to 2011 from the APS.
	As with any sample survey, estimates from the APS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at:
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk
	
		
			 Table 1: Percentage of people aged 16 to 64 in employment 
			 Percentage 
			 12 months ending December: Ashfield Nottinghamshire United Kingdom 
			 2007 63.3 74.0 72.4 
			 2008 69.5 73.4 72.1 
			 2009 68.3 72.2 70.5 
			 2010 70.6 72.6 70.1 
			 2011 67.2 70.1 70.0 
			 2012 67.8 72.3 70.6 
			 Source: Annual Population Survey

Employment: Peterborough

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the net change in the number of private sector jobs in (a) Peterborough constituency and (b) Peterborough city council area since 2010 has been in the latest period for which figures are available.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question to the Minister for the Cabinet Office asking what the net change in the number of private sector jobs in (a) Peterborough constituency and (b) Peterborough City Council area since 2010 has been in the latest period for which figures are available. (160645)
	Information regarding the number of private sector jobs in parliamentary constituencies and local authorities is not available. As an alternative, estimates relating to the number of people employed in the private sector have been provided. The ONS compiles Labour Market Statistics for areas below the UK following International Labour Organisation (ILO) definitions using the Annual Population Survey (APS).
	Individuals in the APS are classified to the public or private sector according to their responses to the survey. The private sector estimates provided do not correspond to those derived as part of the calculation of the official Public Sector Employment estimates. These are based on a National Accounts' definition, are generally higher and are not available for areas smaller then regions.
	The table shows the number of people employed in the private sector in Peterborough constituency and Peterborough City Council area and the net changes. These estimates are compiled from APS interviews held during the period January 2012 to December 2012, the latest period available, and the 12 month period ending in December 2010.
	As with any sample survey, estimates from the APS are subject to a margin of uncertainty. A guide to the quality of the estimates is given in the table.
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at:
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk
	
		
			 Table 1: The net change in the number of people employed in the private sector(1) in Peterborough constituency and Peterborough city council area 
			 Thousand 
			  Peterborough constituency Peterborough city council area 
			 12 months ending December: Number of people employed aged 16 and over Net change in employment(2 )(+/-) Number of people employed aged 16 and over Net change in employment(2 )(+/-) 
			      
			 2010 39 — 59 — 
			 2012(3) **40 0 **64 5 
			 (1) Individuals in the APS are classified to the public or private sector according to their responses to the survey. (2) The net change is calculated on unrounded figures. (3) Coefficients of Variation have been calculated for the latest period as an indication of the quality of the estimates. See Guide to Quality below. Guide to Quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of an estimate, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV—for example, for an estimate of 200 with a CV of 5% we would expect the population total to be within the range 180-220 Key: * 0 ≤ CV<5%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered precise ** 5 ≤ CV <10%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered reasonably precise *** 10 ≤ CV <20%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered acceptable **** CV ≥ 20%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered too unreliable for practical purposes CV = Coefficient of Variation Source: Annual Population Survey.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Carer’s Allowance

Nicholas Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for what reason parents in receipt of carer's allowance who take out a loan and enrol in higher education are no longer eligible for the allowance.

Esther McVey: A carer is not entitled to carer's allowance if they are in full-time education; this is a long-standing rule and has always been the case. For carer's allowance purposes a person is treated as being in full-time education if they attend a course for 21 hours or more a week. The 21 hours is the time spent in supervised study and can include coursework and homework set by the tutor, but excludes breaks.
	It is a general rule in social security that benefits are not available to students, except in very limited circumstances, because there is a system of student grants and loans to help with their support for the duration of their courses, including outside term time. The system is available to carers as it is to other students.

Disability Living Allowance

Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK were in receipt of the (i) higher and (ii) lower rate mobility component of disability living allowance in each year since that allowance's introduction.

Esther McVey: The information requested is available on the online tabtool:
	http://83.244.183.180/100pc/tabtool.html

Employers’ Liability

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the oversight of employer liability insurance undertaken by the Health and Safety Executive.

Mark Hoban: The Health and Safety Executive ensures that compliance with the requirement to hold employer's liability insurance remains high. This is done through the provision of guidance and enforcement action, up to and including prosecution where necessary. Indeed, an independent survey published in 2012 showed that 94% of employers required to hold this insurance said they had it.

Employment: Halifax

Linda Riordan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of working age Halifax residents are employed in the public sector.

Nick Hurd: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Cabinet Office.
	The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions asking what proportion of working age Halifax residents are employed in the public sector (160360).
	ONS compiles Labour Market Statistics for areas below the UK following International Labour Organisation (ILO) definitions using the Annual Population Survey (APS).
	Individuals in the APS are classified to the public or private sector according to their responses to the survey. The public sector estimates provided do not correspond to those derived as part of the calculation of the official Public Sector Employment estimates. These are based on a National Accounts' definition, are generally lower and are not available for areas smaller then regions.
	15% of the population aged 16 to 64 resident in Halifax, were employed in the public sector, according to estimates compiled from APS interviews held during the period January 2012 to December 2012, the latest period available.
	As with any sample survey, estimates from the APS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at:
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk

Housing Benefit: Greater London

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was paid in discretionary housing payments in each London borough in each of the last 12 months.

Steve Webb: The information requested is not available on a monthly basis.
	The following table details the total reported expenditure on discretionary housing payments for each London authority for 2012-13.
	
		
			 Authority name Amount of discretionary housing payments awarded throughout 2012-13 (£) 
			 Barking 293,585 
			 Barnet 551,710 
			 Bexley 161,138 
			 Brent 2,004,885 
			 Bromley 250,858 
			 Camden 562,211 
			 City of London 11,175 
			 Croydon 663,980 
			 Ealing 1,012,252 
			 Enfield 824,238 
			 Greenwich 579,408 
			 Hackney 1,014,761 
			 Hammersmith 402,349 
			 Haringey 804,093 
			 Harrow 351,989 
			 Havering 161,426 
			 Hillingdon 413,531 
			 Hounslow 299,991 
			 Islington 599,978 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 1,307,993 
			 Kingston upon Thames 113,621 
			 Lambeth 615,578 
			 Lewisham 377,181 
			 Merton 182,734 
			 Newham 517,206 
			 Redbridge 375,474 
			 Richmond upon Thames 200,982 
			 Southwark 369,883 
			 Sutton 151,206 
			 Tower Hamlets 505,202 
			 Waltham Forest 473,277 
			 Wandsworth 453,543 
			 Westminster 3,628,650

Housing Benefit: Social Rented Housing

Stephen Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much each local authority returned to his Department in unused discretionary housing payment funding in 2012-13.

Steve Webb: I will place a copy of the Discretionary Housing Payment unused allocation table for 2012-13 in the Library which shows how much of the Government contribution towards Discretionary Housing Payments in 2012-13 was unused by each local authority.
	As a one-off arrangement agreed by Treasury local authorities were allowed to carry-forward unspent Discretionary Housing Payment funding from 2011-12 to 2012-13, in total £7.9 million was carried forward.

Housing Benefit: Social Rented Housing

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether there is any provision in the arrangements for the under-occupancy penalty for parents whose children are in care but where it is hoped that they will join their parents in the future; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Webb: Existing housing benefit regulations do not allow for children who are being looked after by (or in Scotland is in the care of) a local authority, to be treated as a member of the household for housing benefit purposes.
	Consequently the removal of the spare room subsidy will apply where children are in care in both the social and private rented sector.
	Claimants in these circumstances may apply for support from the Discretionary Housing Payment scheme.

Industrial Health and Safety

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his Department has provided to local authorities for the purposes of enforcing occupational health and safety requirements in each of the last five years; how this amount was determined; and what proportion of such funding provided local authorities used for this purpose.

Mark Hoban: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) does not provide funding to local authorities (LAs) for the purposes of enforcing occupational health and safety requirements. LAs are under a legal duty to ensure they make adequate arrangements for enforcement within their area. HSE provides statutory guidance to assist LAs to target their resources effectively.

Innovation Fund

Margaret Curran: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 16 May 2013, Official Report, column 350W, on the Innovation Fund: Scotland, whether he has made a decision on whether it is feasible to publish statistics relating to the Innovation Fund.

Mark Hoban: We published an official statistics ad-hoc release on 5 June 2013 which reports progress on starts and outcomes on the Innovation Fund Pilot. The release can be found at:
	http://statistics.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/adhoc_analysis/2013/youth_unemploy_if_pilot.pdf

Low Incomes

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many families in work with children were earning less than the average national weekly income in each year since 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Esther McVey: The information requested is shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Table 1: Number of families with children with incomes below average income(1) by economic status, Before Housing Costs, United Kingdom 
			 Million 
			  Number of families with children with incomes below various measures of average income(1), Before Housing Costs, United Kingdom 
			  Below median income 
			 Number of families with children whose family type is: 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 
			 At least one adult in work 3.1 3.2 3.3 
			 Workless families 1.2 1.2 1.1 
			 Total 4.3 4.3 4.3 
			 (1) Average income is defined as the median equivalised net household income, where median income divides the population of families, when ranked by income, into two equal sized groups. Equivalisation is the process that makes adjustments to incomes, so that the standard of living of households with different compositions can be compared. Notes: 1. These statistics are based on Households Below Average Income (HBAI) data sourced from the Family Resources Survey (FRS). This uses disposable household income, adjusted using modified OECD equivalisation factors for household size and composition, as an income measure as a proxy for standard of living. 2. Figures have been presented on an Before Housing Cost basis. Housing costs consist of (rent, water rates, mortgage interest payments, buildings insurance payments and ground rent and service charges). 3. All estimates are based on survey data and are therefore subject to a degree of uncertainty. Small differences should be treated with caution as these will be affected by sampling error and variability in non-response. 4. The reference period for HBAI figures is the financial year. 5. Numbers of families with children have been rounded to the nearest 100,000, and may not sum due to rounding. Source: FRS 
		
	
	Families with children are defined as a single adult or a couple living together with dependent children.
	The number of working families with children who have a household income of less than the national weekly median is calculated on the basis of household income for all families. Therefore, the median income divides the population of all families, when ranked by income, into two equal sized groups.
	The statistics published in the Households Below Average Income publication are based on the number of people below various thresholds of median household income for all individuals, and are therefore produced on a different basis to the figures provided in Table 1.
	Further information can be found in the Household Below Average Income series published at
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/index.php?page=hbai
	The Households Below Average Income figures show that the proportion of children in working families has risen, this is because the overall proportion of children in workless households has fallen as more families have moved into work. However, work remains the best route out of poverty, children in workless households are around three times more likely to be in poverty than those in working families.
	The evidence consistently shows that the best routes out of poverty are through parents being in work and through a child's educational achievement which can stop a poor child becoming a poor adult. Income matters but it is also about addressing barriers to employment and ensuring that every family has the skills and opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty.
	We are introducing the universal credit which will reduce child poverty through making work pay and providing an effective route out of poverty. Universal credit will improve work incentives by allowing individuals to keep more of their income as they move into work, and by introducing a smoother and more transparent reduction of benefits when they increase their earnings. Universal credit will also reduce child poverty by re-focusing of entitlements on lower income in-work households and having a simpler system that should lead to a considerable increase in the take-up compared to the current complex system of benefits and tax credits.
	We want to develop better measures of child poverty which include, but go beyond income to provide a more accurate picture of the reality of child poverty. Our consultation on how best to measure child poverty closed on 15 February. The complexity of the issue means that we need to take time to ensure we have the best option for measuring child poverty, so that we can ensure we properly tackle the causes. We will publish our response as soon as we can.

Redundancy: Halifax

Linda Riordan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) public sector and (b) private sector jobs have been lost in Halifax since May 2010.

Nick Hurd: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Cabinet Office.
	The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions asking how many (a) public sector and (b) private sector jobs have been lost in Halifax since May 2010. (160454)
	Information regarding the number of jobs lost is not available. As an alternative, estimates relating to the number of people employed have been provided. ONS compiles Labour Market Statistics for areas below the UK following International Labour Organisation (ILO) definitions using the Annual Population Survey (APS).
	Individuals in the APS are classified to the public or private sector according to their responses to the survey. The public sector estimates provided do not correspond to those derived as part of the calculation of the official Public Sector Employment estimates. These are based on a National Accounts' definition, are generally lower and are not available for areas smaller then regions.
	The table shows the number of people employed in the public and private sector in Halifax and net changes. These estimates are compiled from APS interviews held during the period January 2012 to December 2012, the latest period available, and the 12 month periods ending in December in each year since 2010, which includes May 2010.
	As with any sample survey, estimates from the APS are subject to a margin of uncertainty. A guide to the quality of the estimates is given in the table.
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at:
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk
	
		
			 Table 1: The net change in the number of people employed in the public and private sector(1) in Halifax 
			 Thousand 
			  Public sector employment Private sector employment 
			  Number of people employed aged 16 and over Net change in employment(2 )(+/-) Number of people employed aged 16 and over Net change in employment(2 )(+/-) 
			 12 months ending:     
			 December 2010 9 — 35 — 
			 December 2011 8 -2 34 1 
			 December 2012(3) **10 2 **35 1 
			 (1) Individuals in the APS are classified to the public or private sector according to their responses to the survey. (2) The net change is calculated on unrounded figures. (3) Coefficients of Variation have been calculated for the latest period as an indication of the quality of the estimates. See Guide to Quality below. Guide to Quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of an estimate, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV—for example, for an estimate of 200 with a CV of 5% we would expect the population total to be within the range 180-220 Key: * 0 ≤ CV<5%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered precise ** 5 ≤ CV <10%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered reasonably precise *** 10 ≤ CV <20%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered acceptable **** CV ≥ 20%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered too unreliable for practical purposes CV = Coefficient of Variation Source: Annual Population Survey.

Social Rented Housing: Edinburgh

Alistair Darling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent estimate he has made of the amount of available single roomed accommodation owned by (a) housing associations and (b) the City of Edinburgh Council within the City of Edinburgh; and what estimate he has made of the number of outstanding applications for such accommodation.

Steve Webb: The Department does not hold data on available single-roomed accommodation or applications for social housing.
	Information on local authority housing lists for each local authority in Scotland is available at:
	http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/0040/00400707.xls

Social Security Benefits: Appeals

Alistair Darling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what guidance has been issued to Jobcentre Plus offices in relation to the time taken to implement decisions of tribunals where they relate to successful appeals by individuals.

Esther McVey: Appeal outcomes are treated as a change of circumstances for processing purposes. This means that once the outcome has been received (by e-mail), the decision checked for correctness and the Decision Making and Appeals Case Recording (DMACR) system updated, it will be passed by the decision-maker to the benefit processor for action. The Department's Code of Appeals Procedures, which is available on DWP website, includes guidance that the tribunal's decision should be put into effect as soon as possible.

Unemployment: Young People

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on the effect of school careers advice on levels of youth unemployment; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Hoban: There have been no recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), on the effect of schools careers service on levels of youth unemployment.
	Departmental officials continue to work closely with the Department for Education in setting up a strategy to improving opportunities for young people, so they can succeed in education and training and gain the skills they need to secure employment or gain an apprenticeship. The strategy sets out how radical reforms to schools, vocational education, skills and welfare provision will all make a significant difference to young people's opportunities and support.
	In addition to this, I continue to meet with the Minister of Skills, my hon. Friend the Member for West Suffolk (Matthew Hancock), to work on ways to reduce youth unemployment.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Architecture: Planning

Peter Aldous: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the effect of the National Planning Policy Framework on the quality of design in the built environment;
	(2)  what measures he is taking to deliver upon the commitment outlined in A Housing Strategy for England, Chapter 7, to improve standards of design for new houses in England.

Don Foster: The Government attaches great importance to the design of the built environment. The National Planning Policy Framework contains a strong set of policies on designs enshrining good design as a core planning principle and sending a clear message to councils to reject development of poor design.
	Local authorities and organisations, including the Royal Institute for British Architects, have welcomed the framework stating that a clear message has been sent to developers, planning officers and committees that poor-quality development will no longer be accepted.
	The policies on design in the framework must be taken into account in the preparation of local and neighbourhood plans. It is through the local and neighbourhood plan process that design policies that will influence development locally, are tested and adopted. We have made good progress on local plans, with seven out of 10 councils now having a published local plan, compared to three out of 10 in May 2010. As of April 2013 over 500 communities are taking up the right to make a legally binding neighbourhood plan for their area.
	To meet Housing Strategy commitments we have also provided funding to Design Council that has enabled it to work with partners to establish ways of delivering design support to communities, councils and developers and encouraged industry to innovate, for example through the annual Housing Design Awards.

Empty Property

Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many empty properties have been brought back into use, by local authority, since May 2010.

Don Foster: Annual statistics on total numbers of vacant dwellings and those vacant longer than six months in each local authority district in England are published in the Department's live table 615, which is available at the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-dwelling-stock-including-vacants
	Comparison of the figures over successive years shows the net change in numbers vacant. The net figures result from the balance of properties being brought back into use and those falling vacant over the year.
	The number of long-term empty homes has already fallen by 20,000 between 2011 and 2012 and by over 40,800 since 2010. Ministers will keep the House updated with progress.

Evictions

William McCrea: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many people in each constituent part of the UK have been evicted in the last five years; and what proportion of such evictees have had children.

Mark Prisk: The Department collects information for England only. Statistics on evictions from local authority housing but not family composition are available from Local Authority Housing Statistics:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-communities-and-local-government/series/local-authority-housing-data
	Statistics on evictions from private registered providers (housing associations) are also limited to total numbers:
	http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20120419011320/http://www.tenantservicesauthority.org/upload/pdf/Statistical_release_August 2011r.pdf
	The Department does not collect statistics on evictions from owner occupied or private rental housing.

Housing: Construction

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many (a) housing starts and (b) housing completions there have been for (i) all properties, (ii) properties for social rent, (iii) properties for affordable rent and (iv) all properties classed as affordable housing since 2007-08.

Mark Prisk: Statistics on house building starts and completions by tenure in each local authority are published in the Department's live tables 253 (annual) and 253a (quarterly), which are available at the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-house-building
	Taken together, the housing association and local authority tenures provide estimates of total social housing starts and completions, but these figures mostly understate total affordable supply. This is because the house building figures are categorised by the type of developer rather than the intended final tenure, leading to under recording of affordable housing, and a corresponding over recording of private enterprise figures.
	More comprehensive statistics on affordable housing starts and completions funded by the Homes and Communities Agency and the Greater London Authority since 2009-10 by tenure are available at the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/affordable-housing-starts-and-completions-funded-by-the-hca-and-the-gla-2012-to-2013
	These statistics include both newly built housing and acquisitions but exclude delivery of affordable housing not funded by the Homes and Communities Agency and Greater London Authority programmes that are reported in local authority returns to the Department. A fuller picture of all affordable housing completions (but not starts) is published in the Department's live tables 1000, 1006, 1007 and 1008, which are available at the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-affordable-housing-supply

Property

Margaret Curran: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the (a) location and (b) value is of any property his Department owns in Scotland.

Brandon Lewis: The Department for Communities and Local Government does not own any properties in Scotland.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Asylum

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many settlement applications were made by asylum seekers between 1 October and 31 December 2012; and how many such applications were outstanding on 31 December 2012.

Mark Harper: Between 1 October and 31 December 2012, a total of 2,277 applications for settlement were received by individuals who have been granted asylum. Of these 2,221 applications were pending on 31 December 2012.
	Notes:
	1. The figures quoted have been derived from management information and are therefore provisional and subject to change. This information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols.
	2. Figures relate to asylum main applicants.
	3. Figures relate to applications made for settlement by individuals that have made an application for asylum.

Borders: Personal Records

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what financial provision her Department has made to cover the (a) ongoing legal costs of and (b) costs of a potential settlement resulting from the binding arbitration process brought by Raytheon Systems Ltd.

Mark Harper: The Department, based on legal advice, has not set aside any funds to cover potential costs or liabilities. Within the Department's accounts, the latest position with respect to the ongoing dispute is disclosed as a contingent liability.

Disciplinary Proceedings

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff were suspended from her Department and its associated public bodies on full pay in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12 and (c) 2012-13; and what costs were incurred as a result of such suspensions.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 18 June 2013
	This information is not held in our central records and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Immigrants: Tuberculosis

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what screening for (a) tuberculosis and (b) drug-resistant tuberculosis is undertaken on people seeking to become resident in the UK (i) in general and (ii) from countries with populations suffering from higher levels of infection.

Mark Harper: The Home Office has had in place the requirement for pre-screening for tuberculosis in 15 countries since 2005 as part of the UK visa application process. We are in the process of implementing the requirement for TB pre-screening in a further 67 high incidence countries (as defined by the World Health Organisation).This will be completed by the end of 2013. We do not require screening for TB in low incidence countries. Pre- screening for TB is required by an individual who is travelling to the UK from one of the designated countries for more than six months.

Legal Opinion: Treaties

Nick de Bois: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 6 June 2013, Official Report, column 1230W, on legal opinion: treaties, what the cost to the public purse has been of responding to requests made under mutual legal assistance treaties by the US; and if she will make a statement.

Mark Harper: holding answer 19 June 2013
	We do not hold information on the cost of receiving, acceding to, and executing mutual legal assistance (MLA) requests from the United States of America.

Legal Opinion: Treaties

Nick de Bois: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 6 June 2013, Official Report, column 1230W, on legal opinion: treaties, how many requests have been made under mutual legal assistance treaties with the US since that measure's inception; and if she will make a statement.

Mark Harper: holding answer 19 June 2013
	Between 1 February 2010 and 31 May 2013 the UK Central Authority (UKCA) in the Home Office (the central authority for all mutual legal assistance requests for England and Wales and Northern Ireland) sent 337 requests to the US. In the same period the UKCA received 141 requests from the US.
	Note:
	The information has been provided from local management information and has not been quality assured to the level of published National Statistics. As such it should be treated as provisional.

Rangers Football Club

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress is being made by the Police Service of Scotland and the Procurator Fiscal West of Scotland in their investigation into alleged leaks of confidential information relating to Glasgow Rangers FC's tax details.

Damian Green: An investigation into alleged leaks of confidential information relating to the tax details of Murray International Holdings Ltd, the former majority shareholder in Rangers Football Club, and its owner and former Chairman of the Club, Sir David Murray, is being carried out jointly by the Economic Crime Unit of the Police Service of Scotland and HM Revenue and Customs. The Procurator Fiscal for the West of Scotland is liaising closely with law enforcement about the progress of the investigation. As the investigation is ongoing it would not be appropriate to comment.

Sean Lopes

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of how the US fugitive, Sean Lopes was able to (a) enter the UK and (b) live and work here while being pursued by US authorities for a violent crime.

Mark Harper: holding answer 20 May 2013
	The Home Office cannot comment on individual cases.

Stun Guns

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the answer of 29 October 2012, Official Report, column 73W, on Freedom of Information, for what reason Taser statistics since March 2010 have not yet been published; and when she plans to publish such statistics.

Damian Green: The original database used to store the Police Use of Taser statistics was created in 2003 to cater for the operational trial. This version of the database became increasingly outdated and was operating outside of its original design specification. A decision was taken to develop a new database in 2011 which would automatically enter the data from the Taser data forms. We have experienced significant issues with the migration to this new version of the database.
	We have resolved these problems and are in the final stages of a thorough data validation exercise. We will publish this information when we have finished this exercise.

TRANSPORT

A338

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  which body is responsible for maintenance of the A338; and what plans are in place to complete the road widening project on that road;
	(2)  what plans are in place for improvements to road access to Bournemouth International Airport.

Norman Baker: Maintenance of the A338 or any plans to upgrade it, are in the first instance the responsibility of a number of local highway authorities rather than the Department for Transport.

Conditions of Employment

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many staff were retained on zero-hour contracts by (a) his Department and (b) the executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies for which he is responsible in (i) 2010-11, (ii) 2011-12 and (iii) 2012-13; and if he will make a statement.

Norman Baker: The table below shows the number of staff employed in the Vehicle Certification Agency on zero-hour contracts during 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13. All were qualified type approval engineers.
	
		
			  Number 
			 2010-11 7 
			 2011-12 8 
			 2012-13 9 
		
	
	There were no staff retained on zero-hours contract in the central Department, the remaining executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies.

Disciplinary Proceedings

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many staff were suspended from his Department and its associated public bodies on full pay in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12 and (c) 2012-13; and what costs were incurred as a result of such suspensions.

Norman Baker: The Department for Transport, its six Executive Agencies and 13 of its Arm's Length Bodies are included in the table below.
	The Maritime & Coastguard Agency and Trinity House cannot provide any data for this request as they do not hold the relevant information centrally.
	
		
			  2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013 
			 Suspended staff (number) 38 28 49 
			 Gross wages paid to staff while suspended (£) 218,286.38 110,654.74 327,788.40

Driving Instruction

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent steps his Department has taken to ensure young drivers are given adequate training for driving on rural roads.

Stephen Hammond: All learner drivers are encouraged to obtain a wide range of pre-test driving experience; the voluntary Pass Plus scheme includes a module about driving on rural roads and the theory test contains questions about rural driving. The Department is publishing a Green Paper later this year which will look at a range of options for ensuring young drivers have the skills and knowledge they need to stay safe on the roads. This could include a minimum learning period and a requirement for learner drivers to gain experience on rural roads before taking their practical driving test.

Driving Instruction

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  how many new drivers between the ages of 17 and 25 years took the Pass Plus training course in each of the last five years;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of Pass Plus in helping to prevent accidents among new drivers;
	(3)  what steps his Department is taking to encourage drivers between the ages of 17 and 25 to take Pass Plus after passing their driving tests.

Stephen Hammond: The following table shows the volume of Pass Plus certificates issued by the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) in the last five years.
	
		
			  Number of certificates issued 
			 2008-09 89,668 
			 2009-10 74,821 
			 2010-11 68,571 
			 2011-12 49,013 
			 2012-13 39,386 
			 2013-14 (1)6,364 
			 (1) Year to date. 
		
	
	DSA does not collect data about the age of drivers who complete a Pass Plus course, though it is reasonable to assume the majority would be between 17 and 25 years old.
	A report by the Association of British Insurers, published in 2006, showed that drivers who participated in the Pass Plus scheme had a marginally lower accident rate than drivers who did not. We continue to explore with the insurance industry options for improving market confidence so that we can maximise the incentives and take-up of post-test training initiatives. The Department will publish a Green Paper later this year looking at a range of options for ensuring young drivers have the skills and knowledge they need to stay safe on the roads. This could include a minimum learning period to encourage learner drivers to obtain a wider range of driving experience before the practical driving test.

Driving Under Influence

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of television campaigns in preventing (a) drink driving and (b) drug driving.

Stephen Hammond: We evaluate all campaigns we run to ensure they are effective, that we continually improve performance; and that we ultimately deliver a return on investment and value for money for the taxpayer. We set key performance indicators prior to each campaign and measure these before and immediately after the campaign runs.
	Not all of our campaigns involve TV, instead we focus spend on the channels that are most efficient in reaching our target audience and most likely to change behaviour.
	The Department has run drink drive campaigns for over 30 years. During this time our campaigns have helped to change attitudes and make drink-driving socially unacceptable. For example, since our current personal consequences campaign launched in 2007, the percentage of young men agreeing that it is extremely unacceptable to drive after two pints has increased from 51% to 61%. We have also increased consideration of the personal consequences of a drink-driving conviction—agreement that being caught drink-driving would change my life dramatically has increased from 73% to 91%.
	Over the last 30 years drink drive casualties have fallen significantly. It is difficult to separate out the impact of drink drive campaigns from other factors such as enforcement, but econometric modelling the Department commissioned estimates that 30 years of drink drive campaigns has saved 2,000 lives, prevented over 10,000 serious injuries and created a value to society of £3 billion.
	Drug drive campaigns have run less frequently. The last campaign ran in 2009 and included TV advertising. Following the campaign, we saw positive shifts in some key performance indicators. For example, the percentage of the target audience who agreed the police could detect a drug driver if stopped increased from 78% to 83%.
	Our THINK! communication campaigns are only one part of our road safety work. We're introducing a new drug driving offence through the Crime and Courts Bill. It will be an offence to drive a motor vehicle if you have certain controlled drugs in your body in excess of the limits set for them.
	The new drug-driving offence will improve the law available for tackling the problem of drug-driving and we plan to support this when it's introduced with a further communications campaign.

Driving: Licensing

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he last met the Postal Affairs Minister to discuss the installation of Cogent digital camera equipment in post offices to process driving licence applications and the effect this has had on the rural post office network.

Stephen Hammond: There has been no meeting between Ministers at the Department of Transport and the Minister with responsibility for the Post Office to discuss the installation of Cogent digital camera equipment in post offices to process driving license applications.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the report from the Office of the Rail Regulator showing a decline in usage across all rail sectors over the last 12 months and the effect of this report on the economic evaluation of High Speed 2; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Burns: Provisional statistics from the Office of Rail Regulation on usage of the rail network indicate that annual franchised passenger kilometres travelled on the rail network increased from 56.9 billion in 2011-12 to 58 billion in 2012-13. This represents an increase of 46% since 2002-03. Growing usage of the rail network is an important driver of the case for HS2. Network Rail estimates suggest that the West Coast Main Line will be overwhelmed by the mid 2020s if we do nothing.

Motor Vehicles: Insurance

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the number of car insurance companies offering lower premiums to drivers who use telematics technology.

Stephen Hammond: I am aware of 17 insurance companies who provide telematics products for drivers. Depending on driving behaviour, lower insurance premiums may be awarded to drivers for using these products.

Roads: Safety

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much his Department has spent on campaigns promoting road safety in each of the last three years.

Stephen Hammond: The Department's road safety publicity programme expenditure for the last three years was:
	
		
			  £ 
			 2010-11 2,342,563 
			 2011-12 3,995,586 
			 2012-13 3,608,680

Shipping

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 10 June 2013, Official Report, column 119W, on shipping: training, whether maritime policy issues related to training of UK seafarers were discussed at the maritime round table meeting held in March 2013; and what (a) outcomes and (b) actions in this area were agreed.

Stephen Hammond: Maritime training was discussed in the wider context of growth and promotion of the maritime sector as a whole. The sector is an important contributor to the UK economy and highly trained and qualified seafarers are instrumental in supporting the UK maritime sector.
	There was no specific outcome or action relating to maritime training but there was agreement to joint working across Government and with industry on growth and promotion of the maritime sector, of which maritime training is part.

Shipping

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 10 June 2013, Official Report, column 119W, on shipping: training, whether maritime policy issues related to employment of (a) UK and (b) non-UK seafarers were discussed at the maritime round table meeting held in March 2013; and what (i) outcomes and (ii) actions in this area were agreed.

Stephen Hammond: There was no discussion on policy issues relating to the employment of UK and non-UK seafarers.

Shipping

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 10 June 2013, Official Report, column 119W, on shipping: training, what the name was of each attendee at the maritime round table meeting in March 2013; what policy issues were discussed; and what maritime policy items are proposed for the agenda for the meeting scheduled for July 2013.

Stephen Hammond: Attendees at the maritime round table held in March included:
	Stephen Hammond, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport
	Michael Fallon, Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
	Richard Sadler, CEO Lloyd’s Register
	Jim Stewart, Chairman, Maritime UK and CEO of Poole Harbour Commissioners
	Lars Olsson, General Manager of Stena Line
	Jeremy Penn, Chief Executive, The Baltic Exchange
	Mark Brownrigg—UK Chamber of Shipping
	Sir Alan Massey, Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
	The purpose of the meeting was to discuss:
	i. Improved joint working across government and with industry on maritime affairs;
	ii. Growth and promotion of the maritime sector within the context of the growth agenda;
	iii. Cross-government and industry support for London International Shipping Week.
	The agenda for the next meeting is still under consideration.

Shipping

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 10 June 2013, Official Report, column 119W, on shipping: training, if he will invite representatives of the maritime trade unions to attend (a) the maritime round table scheduled for July 2013 and (b) all future meetings of the maritime round table.

Stephen Hammond: We value the important work of the maritime trade unions and are keen to continue ongoing dialogue with them. The invite list for the maritime round tables has been kept small to enable a strategically focused dialogue on the maritime sector's contribution to the growth agenda and how the sector is best promoted at a national and international level. The maritime trade unions will of course have a role to play in this and I look forward to hearing their views at forthcoming meetings with me in the near future. I am also aware that the maritime trade unions are in dialogue with Department for Transport officials and therefore have the opportunity to feed their views in through officials also.
	No meetings have been arranged beyond the July.

Shipping

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 10 June 2013, Official Report, column 119W, on shipping: training, if he will publish the (a) minutes and (b) outcomes of the maritime round table meeting held in March 2013.

Stephen Hammond: There are no minutes from the March round table meeting.
	Outcomes of the meeting included:
	1. Agreement to joint working across Government and with industry on growth and promotion of the maritime sector which includes shipping, ports, marine and business services.
	2. Support for London International Shipping Week which will take place from 9-13 September. This was seen as an excellent opportunity to showcase what the UK has to offer and Government, with Maritime UK, is hosting a Welcome Reception in Lancaster House as part of the week.

Transport: Finance

Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of (a) integrated transport authorities' and (b) passenger transport executives' (i) spending and (ii) budgets is funded from (A) local funding sources and (B) central Government allocations and grants.

Norman Baker: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Penistone and Stocksbridge (Angela Smith) to question 159417 of 17 June 2013, Official Report, column 530W. This sets out the funding given by the Department for Transport to ITAs/PTEs following the 2010 Spending Review.
	As levying bodies, set up by the Local Government Finance Act 1988 and subsequent regulations, Integrated Transport Authorities are able to set the amount of funding they wish to raise from their constituent authorities. It is therefore ultimately up to them and their constituent councils as to what the proportions are between local and central Government sources.
	Passenger Transport Executives are the executive bodies of integrated transport authorities and, as such, draw their funding from their associated integrated transport authority.

Travel

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change on encouraging the use of alternative methods of transportation other than the car when travelling short distances.

Norman Baker: Ministers and officials in the Department for Transport regularly discuss a variety of matters with their opposite numbers at the Department for Energy and Climate Change, but there have been no recent discussions with that Department specifically on encouraging the use of alternative methods of transportation other than the car when travelling short distances.

HEALTH

Accident and Emergency Departments

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many invitations to visit hospital accident and emergency and emergency departments he and his Ministers have received since their appointments; and for what dates.

Daniel Poulter: A search of the Department's ministerial correspondence database has identified over 4,000 ministerial invitations received since September 2012. It is not possible to identify which of these were invitations to visit national health service trusts or accident and emergency departments without incurring disproportionate cost.
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 6 June 2013, Official Report, column 1268W, which lists visits made by the ministerial team to accident and emergency units since their respective dates of appointment.

Cancer

Robert Buckland: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what plans he has to develop a new national cancer strategy;
	(2)  what plans his Department and NHS England have for the development of new indicators for the measurement of cancer patient experience.

Anna Soubry: NHS England has responsibility for cancer services.
	The latest cancer strategy, Improving Outcomes: A Strategy for Cancer, was published in January 2011 and contains the Department's ambition to 'save 5,000 lives' per year by 2014-15. This equates to bringing cancer survival rates up to the European average.
	At present, NHS England has no plans to develop a further national cancer strategy.
	The Mandate to NHS England requires it to deliver continued improvements in relation to patients' experience of care, including cancer care. This improvement area corresponds to Domain 4 of the NHS Outcomes Framework (NHS OF) 'Ensuring that people have a positive experience of care', and NHS England will need to demonstrate progress in improving patients' experience against the specific outcome indicators in the domain. Although there are no disease specific indicators in this domain, those that are included cover a range of national health service care settings which will be relevant to the experiences of cancer patients across all the Domains of the NHS OF. There are currently no plans to develop an indicator specific to cancer patient experience in the NHS OF.
	‘Ensuring that people have a positive experience of care’ is also Domain 4 of the Clinical Commissioning Group Outcomes Indicator Set (CCG OIS). The CCG OIS indicators in this domain, many of which are shared with the NHS OF, will enable clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to benchmark themselves on these matters and to inform the setting of local priorities.
	NHS England is committed to encouraging and supporting improvement in cancer patient experience and is therefore considering how best to build the capacity of CCGs and ensure they are held to account. NHS England is considering the role that metrics for patient experience might play in the CCG OIS.

Carers

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the number of people in the care sector employed on zero hours contracts in each English region.

Norman Lamb: The Department does not collect this information centrally.
	Skills for Care, the Sector Skills Council for social care, has provided the following estimates from the National Minimum Dataset for Social Care (NMDS-SC):
	
		
			 Estimated number of adult social care workers on zero-hours contracts, by each English region 
			 Region Estimated number of workers on zero-hours contracts 
			 Eastern 41,000 
			 East Midlands 23,000 
			 London 56,000 
			 North East 17,000 
			 North West 37,000 
			 South East 50,000 
			 South West 27,000 
			 West Midlands 30,000 
			 Yorkshire and The Humber 27,000 
			 England 307,000 
			 Source: Skills for Care workforce estimates 2011, NMDS-SC May 2013

Diabetes: Children

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children aged up to 18 years in (a) Barnsley Central constituency, (b) South Yorkshire and (c) England were diagnosed with diabetes in (i) 2010, (ii) 2011 and (iii) 2012.

Anna Soubry: Information is not collected in the format requested. The table shows the number of children up to 18 years (registered in primary and secondary care) newly diagnosed with diabetes in the Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield primary care trust (PCT) areas and in England in the latest two years for which data is available.
	
		
			  NDA audit year 
			 Geographical area 2009-10 2010-11 
			 Barnsley PCT 20 14 
			 Doncaster PCT 14 15 
			 Rotherham PCT 23 18 
			 Sheffield PCT 37 28 
			 England 3,258 3,468 
			 Note: The National Diabetes Audit (NDA), which audits diabetes registrations in primary and secondary care, is not mandatory. (NDA does not have 100% coverage or participation and therefore cannot accurately provide the information required). Source: National Diabetes Audit (NDA).

Diabetes: North West

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children began treatment for type-1 diabetes in (a) Pendle constituency, (b) Lancashire and (c) the North West in each of the last five years.

Anna Soubry: The information is not available in the format requested.
	Information on the number of children aged up to 18 years, registered in primary and secondary care, that were newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2009-10 and 2010-11 in the former (a) Blackburn with Darwen primary care trust (PCT), (b) North Lancashire Teaching PCT, (c) Blackpool PCT, (d) Central Lancashire PCT, (e) East Lancashire PCT and (f) North West strategic health authority (SHA) is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  2009-10 2010-11 
			 Blackburn with Darwen PCT 14 11 
			 North Lancashire Teaching PCT 21 18 
			 Blackpool PCT 6 — 
			 Central Lancashire PCT 30 29 
			 East Lancashire PCT 28 19 
			 North West of England SHA 384 396 
			 Notes: 1. Participation in the National Diabetes Audit (NDA), which audits diabetes registrations in primary and secondary care, is not mandatory. The NDA does not have 100% coverage or participation and therefore cannot accurately provide the information requested. 2. 2011-12 data has not yet been published. The NDA currently only holds data for 2009-10 and 2010-11. 3. Information is not available by constituency. 4. The NDA provides data on the number of children aged up to 18 years that were newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, which is synonymous to the number of children who began treatment. 5. To protect patient confidentiality, figures between one and five have been replaced with “—”. Source: The Information Centre for Health and Social Care—National Diabetes Audit.

Disciplinary Proceedings

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff were suspended from his Department and its associated public bodies on full pay in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12 and (c) 2012-13; and what costs were incurred as a result of such suspensions.

Daniel Poulter: No officials were suspended on full pay from the Department during 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13 respectively.
	On the basis of the information provided by the Department's associated public bodies, the following table shows the total number of staff suspended and the costs incurred for each of the respective years.
	
		
			  Number of staff suspended on full pay in the Department's associated public bodies Total costs incurred (£) 
			 2010-11 17 179,587 
			 2011-12 9 50,754 
			 2012-13 14 130,577

Health Services: Barnsley

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many compromise agreements have been made with NHS employers in Barnsley since 2000; and what the total cost to the public purse was of those agreements.

Daniel Poulter: The information requested is not held centrally. Such information as is available is as follows.
	From 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2013, HM Treasury approved seven non-contractual severance payments to employees of Barnsley NHS employers (excluding foundation trusts). All seven cases were for Barnsley primary care trust. The value of the approved payments totalled £50,554 in this period.
	Business cases submitted to the Department prior to seeking HM Treasury approval do not include compromise agreements and therefore the use and content of compromise agreements are not routinely monitored. We do not know if any payments were actually paid or, if so, at what cost to the public purse. HM Treasury approval is given for the maximum amount payable, in some cases payments are not made at all or can be less than the approved value.
	The procedure requiring the submission of business cases to the Department was introduced from April 2008.

Hospitals: Food

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of meals served by each NHS provider were recorded as untouched in each year since 2007-08.

Daniel Poulter: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available has been placed in the Library.
	The Department collects data from national health service trusts for the percentage of unserved meals, not untouched, at each NHS provider. This relates to unserved in-patient meals remaining at the end of the meal service period expressed as a percentage of the total number of meals provided and available at the commencement of the meal service period. This does not include information relating to untouched food which is food served to patients but not eaten. Data for 2007-08 was collected at site level. From 2008-09, this data was collected at organisation level.
	This information has been supplied by the NHS and has not been amended centrally. The accuracy and completeness of the information is the responsibility of the provider organisation.

NHS 111

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment he has made of the operation of the 111 number; and if he will make a statement.

Anna Soubry: A number of new NHS 111 launches in March did not go as smoothly as planned. Performance was of particular concern the weekend before Easter. Since Easter, NHS England has put in tighter controls to improve performance, including ensuring providers are able to answer calls in under 60 seconds.
	Performance has improved during recent weeks, with the majority of areas now meeting performance targets. NHS England continues to work closely with providers and commissioners to resolve any outstanding issues.
	NHS 111 is now available in over 90% of England, and it is planned that the service will be rolled out to the rest of England by October.

NHS: Apprentices

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many apprentices are employed in the NHS in (a) Barnsley Central constituency, (b) South Yorkshire and (c) England; and what the average wage was of a full-time NHS apprentice in the latest period for which figures are available.

Daniel Poulter: Data on the total number of apprentices employed in the national health service are not collected by the Department. However, data provided by NHS Employers show that the 10 strategic health authorities reported 7,894 apprenticeship starts in the NHS in England during 2012-13. This updates the answer given to the hon. Member for Liverpool, Walton (Steve Rotheram), on 13 June 2013, Official Report, column 380W.
	This figure does not include the number of apprenticeship starts within the former London Strategic Health Authority which did not provide its data for the reported period.
	Data from the Yorkshire and Humber Local Education Training Board show that during 2012-13, there were 42 apprenticeship starts at Barnsley Hospitals Foundation Trust, and 230 apprenticeship starts across the whole of South Yorkshire. It should be noted that these figures represent 2012-13 apprenticeship starts and are not the total number of apprentices currently employed, which are likely to be considerably higher.
	The NHS has seen significant progress in the development of apprenticeships in recent years. Health Education England has an objective in its mandate for 2013-15 to increase the number of health care apprentices and will work with key delivery organisations such as Skills for Health to achieve this.
	Information on the average wages of apprentices in the NHS is not collected by the Department. Wages for apprentices across the sector vary and are subject to. local pay decisions.

Tuberculosis: Immigrants

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions (a) he has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department and (b) officials of his Department have had with officials of the Home Office on implementing screening of prospective UK residents who might have tuberculosis or drug-resistant tuberculosis.

Anna Soubry: There have been ongoing discussions between the Home Office, Public Health England and Department of Health officials as part of the Government's current roll-out of pre-migration tuberculosis screening for non-European Economic Area nationals applying for visas to enter the United Kingdom for more than six months. I have met the Minister for Immigration, my hon. Friend the Member for Forest of Dean (Mr Harper), to discuss the wider impact of immigration on the national health service of which pre-migration screening was discussed.

TREASURY

Banks: Scotland

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the statement on page 6 of his Department's publication, Scotland Analysis: Financial Services and Banking, whether the calculation that banks have assets totalling around 1254 per cent of Scotland's GDP included the assets of RBS Group's Markets Division.

Danny Alexander: As per the answer I gave to the hon. Member in response to his question on 11 June 2013, Official Report, column 227W, firms whose headquarters or “principle places of business” are in Scotland are considered to be Scottish firms for the purpose of this analysis. The analysis was conducted on the basis of separately authorised and registered legal entities within groups, including RBS Group, rather than the group's internal governance structures.

Developing Countries: Taxation

Tony Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he plans to take to ensure that UK-linked tax havens do not enable tax avoidance in developing countries.

David Gauke: We have been working very closely with the Crown dependencies and overseas territories. They have committed to play an active role in the emerging new global standard in automatic exchange of tax information which will be open to all countries, including developing countries. We will be working with the OECD to ensure that the relevant systems and processes are as accessible as possible to help enable all countries to access this standard. The CDs and OTs with a financial centre have in addition committed to join the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters which is also particularly accessible to developing countries. They have also committed to producing action plans on beneficial ownership, setting out concrete steps to tackle the misuse of companies and legal arrangements. The Crown dependencies published their action plans on 18 June.

Economic and Monetary Union

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what reports relating to (a) the viability of a common EU currency and (b) the benefits and disbenefits of UK participation in such an exercise were commissioned or agreed by his Department (i) at the time of the signing of the Maastricht Treaty, (ii) on the launch of the euro and (iii) at any time afterwards; and if he will publish any such reports which are within the public domain.

Greg Clark: The Coalition programme for government was clear that the Government will ensure:
	“that Britain does not join or prepare to join the Euro in this Parliament”.
	As such, no reports on the above subjects have been commissioned under the current Government. A number of reports on the viability of a common EU currency and the benefits and disbenefits of UK participation have been commissioned and published under past Governments and a comprehensive selection can be found at the following link:
	http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20080910134819/http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/documents/international_issues/the_euro/euro_index_index.cfm

Income Tax: Scotland

Margaret Curran: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether ministers or officials of the Scottish Government have (a) been involved in the drafting of and (b) had access to the HM Revenue and Customs risk register for the Scottish Rate of Income Tax project.

David Gauke: HMRC’s risk register for the Scottish rate of income tax project is shared with project board members. The Scottish Government is represented on the board and has access to the risk register and the opportunity to contribute to it. The risk register is reviewed regularly and updated when required.

Mortgages: Government Assistance

Julie Hilling: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his Department has made any assessment of the extent to which the introduction of the affordability assessment for mortgages has affected Government schemes to help couples (a) with and (b) without children to become home owners.

Sajid Javid: The Mortgage Market Review (MMR) rules, published by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in October 2012, and due to be implemented in April 2014, ensure lenders carry out a robust assessment of the affordability of any mortgage for the consumer, both for interest-only and repayment mortgages.
	The FSA carried out and published a cost-benefit analysis estimating the impact of the new rules. This analysis is available at:
	http://www.fca.org.uk/static/documents/policy-statements/fsa-ps12-16.pdf

Payments: Regulation

Andrea Leadsom: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the progress on his Department's consultation on Opening Up UK Payments.

Sajid Javid: The consultation on ‘Opening up UK payments’ closes on 25 June. HM Treasury will then review the consultation responses and develop legislation to create a new payments regulator. The legislation will be brought forward via Government amendment to the Banking Reform Bill.

Poverty: Children

Tom Clarke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of his Department's progress on eliminating child poverty by 2020.

Sajid Javid: The Government remains committed to eradicating child poverty. However, the Government strongly believes looking at relative income in isolation is not a helpful measure to track progress towards this.
	The Government has therefore held a consultation on better measures of child poverty, which include income but also wider measures to tackle the root causes of poverty including worklessness and educational failure. The consultation has now closed and the Government will respond in due course.
	Work remains the best and most immediate way out of poverty and the Budget took action to support families and make the tax and welfare system fairer: including further increasing the income tax personal allowance to take 2.7 million people on low incomes out of tax altogether.

Revenue and Customs: Portsmouth

Penny Mordaunt: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people used the Portsmouth HM Revenue and Customs enquiry centre in each of the last five years; how many people in each year were repeat users; and how many of each type of enquiry were discussed in each such year.

David Gauke: Some of the information requested is not available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However the number of customers who used HMRC's Inquiry Centre at Lynx House for each of the last five financial years is:
	
		
			  Number 
			 2008-09 22,988 
			 2009-10 21,855 
			 2010-11 20,987 
			 2011-12 20,973 
			 2012-13 16,767

Royal Bank of Scotland

Tom Clarke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent representations he has received on the location of the headquarters of the re-privatised Royal Bank of Scotland.

Greg Clark: Treasury Ministers and officials engage with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors, as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings and discussions.
	UK Financial Investments Ltd (UKFI) continues to be responsible for managing the Government's shareholding in RBS on a commercial and arm's length basis, and for advising on a strategy for disposing of the investment in an orderly and active way.

Tobacco: Smuggling

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the reasons the tobacco smuggling strategy of HM Revenue and Customs did not meet its operational targets in 2012-13.

Sajid Javid: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and Border Force set very stretching internal targets under the ‘Tackling Tobacco Smuggling’ strategy in order to continue to drive up operational performance.
	HMRC exceeded internal operational targets in 2011-12 and performance outputs improved further in 2012-13, but fell short of more stretching targets.
	HMRC and Border Force assess the overall impact of the strategy on smuggling through our estimates of the UK illicit market. Latest estimates indicate the illicit cigarette market has more than halved since 2000-01—dropping from 21% to 9% in 2010-11, and the hand-rolling tobacco illicit market has reduced from 61% to 38%.

Welfare Tax Credits

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to improve the support given to claimants of tax credits by HM Revenue and Customs (a) in writing and (b) through its helpline.

David Gauke: The Government notes the recommendation in the recent report of the Committee of Public Accounts (HMRC: tax credits error and fraud (HC 135)) that HMRC should systematically review the guidance and support it provides to tax credits claimants in order to identify and address areas where improvements are required. The Government is currently considering the committee's report and will respond formally in due course.

MEMBERS ESTIMATE COMMITTEE

Former Members

John Mann: To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, representing the Members Estimate Committee, how many former hon. and right hon. Members who lost their seats or did not stand at the 2010 General Election and have subsequently been appointed to the House of Lords have paid back any winding-up allowance on leaving the House.

John Thurso: The winding-up expenditure allowance was designed to meet the cost of completing the outstanding parliamentary duties, and to meet outstanding contractual obligations, of a person who ceased to be a Member of Parliament.
	222 Members stood down or lost their seat at the 2010 general election, and total expenditure was just over £7 million. The large majority of this was in respect of contractual payments to employees, such as redundancy pay and pay in lieu of notice. Other expenditure included costs associated with closing down constituency offices, outstanding utility bills and destruction of confidential waste. 97% of winding-up expenditure was paid directly to employees or suppliers of goods and services: The remaining 3%—approximately £230,000—was paid to former Members for costs they had met from personal resources and for which they were entitled to reimbursement.
	No Member has paid back any of the sums paid.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Overseas Aid

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much of her Department's bilateral aid programmes was spent through (a) the EU, (b) the World Bank, (c) the UN, (d) regional development banks and (e) other multilateral agencies in (i) 2010-11, (ii) 2011-12 and (iii) 2012-13; and how much is planned to be spent in this fashion in 2013-14.

Justine Greening: DFID provides core funding to multilateral organisations as well as additional non-core funding to deliver particular objectives either in specific sectors or countries. The Department publishes in Statistics in International Development the total amount of the bilateral aid programme spent through multilateral organisations. This is available online at:
	http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/statistics-on-international-development
	Information for 2012-13 will be published in autumn 2013, and information for 2014-15 will be published in autumn 2014.

Overseas Aid

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much of her Department's multilateral aid programme was disbursed as central or core funding to (a) the EU, (b) the World Bank, (c) the UN, (d) regional development banks and (e) other multilateral agencies in (i) 2010-11, (ii) 2011-12 and (iii) 2012-13; and how much is expected to be disbursed in this fashion in 2013-14.

Justine Greening: Details of DFID multilateral expenditure are published in Table 18 of the 'Statistics on International Development' 2012 which is available online at:
	http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/statistics-on-international-development
	Information for 2012-13 will be published in autumn 2013, and information for 2014-15 will be published in autumn 2014.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Accountancy

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many officials in his Department are currently seconded to any of the four largest accountancy firms; and what the (a) job title and (b) pay grade is of each such secondee.

Alistair Burt: According to our records, none of our staff are currently on outward secondment to the big four accountancy firms. We have interpreted ‘the four largest accountancy firms’ to mean staff seconded to KPMG, Ernst and Young, Deloitte and Price WaterhouseCooper.

Iran

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on the official policy of the Iranian government to deny employment to citizens if they identify themselves as members of the Baha'i faith community; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: I am aware of reports from the Baha'i Community in the UK and the UN Special Rapporteur, Dr Ahmed Shaheed about the Iranian regime's persecution of the Baha'i, as well as a United Nations report from 1993 which refers to a 'secret' Iranian memorandum on blocking the 'progress' and 'development' of the Baha'i and denying them positions of influence, access to higher education and employment. The British Government has repeatedly and publicly expressed its serious concern at the persecution of the Baha'i's and I call again on Iran to cease this; and for Iran to respect all its citizens' rights to freedom of religion and belief.

Iran

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make it his policy that the Iranian government be allowed to reopen its embassy in London.

Alistair Burt: We were forced to close the British embassy in Tehran following the invasion of our diplomatic compounds, which was against every provision of the Vienna Convention and every principle of civilised behaviour regarding the treatment of diplomats. In response, we reduced our diplomatic relations with Iran to the lowest level possible, short of severing ties. The embassy of the Sultanate of Oman in London is currently looking after Iran's interests here in the UK and the Swedish embassy in Tehran looks after the UK's interests in Iran.
	In order to consider reopening the Iranian embassy in London or the British embassy in Tehran, we would have to be very confident of a change in the Iranian Government's approach, most importantly to the safety and security of our staff.

Turkey

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has made to his Turkish counterpart on protests and violence in that country.

William Hague: I discussed the recent developments in Turkey with Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish Foreign Minister on 11 June and encouraged a peaceful resolution. The Minister for Europe, my right hon. Friend the Member for Aylesbury (Mr Lidington), made the same points to the Turkish EU Affairs Minister, Egemen Bagis on 13 June. We will continue to follow events closely.
	Freedom of expression and assembly are important rights in any democracy. We welcome statements from the Turkish Government recognising that some of the concerns raised by the protestors are legitimate.

Turkey

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what requests for assistance UK embassies and consulates in Turkey have received from British nationals in that country.

William Hague: Our embassy and consulates around Turkey have so far received three requests from British nationals requesting consular assistance since the beginning of the recent demonstrations and disturbances in Turkey. Two related to an arrest or fear of being arrested and one asking for assistance travelling from their hotel to the airport. None required intervention by consular staff.
	We continue to advise anyone wishing to travel to Turkey to read the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Travel Advice.

DEFENCE

Armed Forces

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  how many individual education and resettlement officers there have been in each of the last three years;
	(2)  how much his Department spent on individual education and resettlement officers in each of the last three years; and how much funding he plans to allocate in each of the next five years.

Mark Francois: The Army has 26 Individual Education and Resettlement Officer (IERO) posts. Aside from recruiting gaps, this number has been constant for the past three years. In order to cover the additional volume of service leavers under the compulsory redundancy scheme, a further seven IEROs were recruited on a temporary basis to cover Tranche 2 in 2012. These seven were augmented by an additional seven in 2013 to cover Tranche 3 of the redundancy programme. The temporary posts will not last beyond June 2015.
	Based on current capitation rates, the steady state cost for the 26 established posts is some £1.03 million per annum. For financial year (FY) 2012-13 this figure increased by some £275,000 to accommodate the uplift in IEROs for Tranche 2 of the Compulsory Redundancy Programme, and by some £550,000 in FY 2013-14 for Tranche 3. Spending will remain at this level for FY 2014-15 and will then reduce once the redundancy programme has been completed.
	Steady state funding from 2015 onwards will remain at approximately £1 million per annum, though this may reduce as the number of IEROs is adjusted to reflect the Army 2020 structure.

Armed Forces: Qualifications

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the average length of service before attaining level 2 qualifications was in the (a) Army, (b) Royal Navy and (c) Royal Air Force in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Mark Francois: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer given by the Minister for the Armed Forces, my right hon. Friend the Member for South Leicestershire (Mr Robathan), on 21 May 2013, Official Report, column 717W.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he and his ministerial colleagues have held regarding the possible privatisation of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in the last year.

Mark Francois: holding answer 17 June 2013
	There have been no discussions concerning the possible privatisation of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Conditions of Employment

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many staff were retained on zero-hour contracts by (a) his Department and (b) the executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies for which he is responsible in (i) 2010-11, (ii) 2011-12 and (iii) 2012-13; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Francois: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 30 January 2013, Official Report, column 802W, to the hon. Member for Sunderland Central (Julie Elliott). The Ministry of Defence has never employed staff on this form of contract.

Disciplinary Proceedings

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many staff were suspended from his Department and its associated public bodies on full pay in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12 and (c) 2012-13; and what costs were incurred as a result of such suspensions.

Mark Francois: The number of civilian staff who have spent some part of the financial year (FY) suspended on full pay is set out in the following table:
	
		
			 Financial year Number of staff suspended 
			 2010-11 175 
			 2011-12 165 
			 2012-13 160 
		
	
	The costs requested are not held in the format requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Military Attaches

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the name is of each diplomatic post to which the UK assigned a defence attaché in (a) 2008, (b) 2009, (c) 2010, (d) 2011 and (e) 2012.

Andrew Murrison: The following table shows, for January each year, the Defence attaché posts resident in each country. It does not include any non-resident accreditations held by these posts. Support staff are not included.
	
		
			 Diplomatic posts which the UK has assigned a DA January 2008 to January 2012 
			 Appointment 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 
			 Afghanistan—Kabul      
			 DA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Albania—Tirana      
			 DA 1 (1)— 
			       
			 Algeria—Algiers/Tunis      
			 DA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Argentina—Buenos Aires      
			 DA MA NA 1 1 1 1 1 
			 AA 1 (2)— 
			 DDA    1 1 
			       
			 Australia—Canberra      
			 D/N ADV HD BDLS 1 1 1 1 1 
			 M Adv/A Adv 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Austria—Vienna and Regional Hub      
			 DA 1 1 1 1 1 
			 DA2 1 1 1 1 1 
			 ADA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Austria—Vienna—UK Delegation to Organisation for Security Cooperation in Europe      
			 SMA — — 1 1 1 
			       
			 Bahrain—Manama      
			 DA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
		
	
	
		
			 Baltic States—Estonia      
			 DA — — 1 1 1 
			       
			 Bangladesh—Dhaka      
			 DA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Barbados—Bridgetown      
			 D Adv 1 1 (1)— 
			       
			 Bosnia and Herzegovina—Sarajevo      
			 DA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Brazil—Brasilia      
			 DA MA AA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Brunei—Bandar Seri Begawan      
			 D Adv 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Bulgaria—Sofia      
			 DA 1 1 (1)— 
			       
			 Canada—Ottawa      
			 D Adv M Adv 1 1 1 1 1 
			 N Adv A Adv 1 1 1 1 1 
			 Staff Officer BDLS 1 1 1 1  
			       
			 Chile-Santiago      
			 DA MA AA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 China—Beijing      
			 DA MA 1 1 1 1 1 
			 NA AA 1 1 1 1 1 
			 ADA 1 1 1 1 1 
			 DA 1 (2)— 
			       
			 Colombia—Bogota      
			 DA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Congo, Democratic Republic of, (DRC)—Kinshasa      
			 DA 1 1 1 1 (3)— 
			       
			 Croatia—Zagreb      
			 DA 1 (1)— 
			       
			 Cyprus—Nicosia      
			 D Adv 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Czech Republic—Prague      
			 DA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Denmark—Copenhagen      
			 DA NA MA AA 1 1 1 1 1 
		
	
	
		
			       
			 Egypt—Cairo      
			 DA MA 1 1 1 1  
			 DDA   1 1  
			       
			 Ethiopia—Addis Ababa      
			 DA 1 1 1 1  
			       
			 Finland—Helsinki      
			 DA 1 1 (1)— 
			       
			 France—Paris      
			 DA 1 1 1 1 1 
			 Deputy DA 1 1 1 1 1 
			 MA 1 1 (2)— 
			       
			 Georgia-Tbilisi      
			 DA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Germany—Berlin      
			 DA 1 1 1 1 1 
			 MA 1 1 1 (2)— 
			 Deputy DA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Ghana—Accra      
			 DADV 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Greece—Athens      
			 NA AA 1 (2)— 
			 DA MA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Guatemala—Guatemala City      
			 DA 1 (1)— 
			       
			 India—New Delhi      
			 D Adv M Adv 1 1 1 — — 
			 N Adv A Adv 1 1 1 — — 
			 Asst to DA 1 1 1 (2)— 
			 A M Adv BLO — — — 1 1 
			       
			 Indonesia-Jakarta      
			 DA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Iraq—Baghdad      
			 DA 1 1 1 1 1 
			 DDA — — 1 1 1 
			       
			 Israel—Tel Aviv      
			 DA 1 1 1 1 1 
			 Deputy DA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Italy—Rome      
			 DA MA 1 1 1 1 1 
			 NA AA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
		
	
	
		
			 Jamaica—Kingston      
			 D Adv 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Japan—Tokyo      
			 DA NA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Jordan—Amman      
			 DA MA NA 1 1 1 1 1 
			 AA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Kazakhastan—Astana      
			 DA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Kenya—Nairobi      
			 D Adv 1 1 1 1 1 
			 MA BLO — — 1 1 1 
			       
			 Korea—Seoul      
			 DA MA 1 1 1 1 1 
			 NA AA 1 (2)— 
			       
			 Kuwait—Kuwait City     - 
			 DA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Lebanon—Beirut      
			 DA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Lithuania—Vilnius      
			 DA 1 1 (1)— 
			       
			 Macedonia—Skopje      
			 DA 1 (4)— 
			       
			 Malaysia—Kuala Lumpur      
			 D Adv 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Morocco—Rabat      
			 DA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Nepal—Kathmandu      
			 DA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Netherlands—The Hague      
			 DA NA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 New Zealand—Wellington      
			 D Adv & Hd BDS 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Nigeria—Abuja      
			 D Adv 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Norway—Oslo      
			 DA NA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
		
	
	
		
			 Oman—Muscat      
			 DA MA 1 1 1 1 1 
			 NA AA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Pakistan—Islamabad      
			 D Adv M Adv 1 1 1 1 1 
			 N Adv A Adv 1 1 1 1 1 
			 ADA 1 1 1 1 1 
			 Asst to M Adv — — 1 1 1 
			       
			 Poland—Warsaw      
			 DA AA 1 1 1 1 1 
			 MA NA 1 1 1 (2)— 
			       
			 Portugal—Lisbon      
			 DA MA NA AA 1 (1)— 
			       
			 Qatar—Doha      
			 DA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Romania—Bucharest      
			 DA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Russia—Moscow      
			 DAAA 1 1 1 1 1 
			 NA 1 1 1 1 1 
			 MA 1 1 (2)— 
			 ANA 1 1 1 1 1 
			 AMA 1 1 1 1 1 
			 AAA 1 1 1 (2)— 
			       
			 Saudi Arabia—Riyadh      
			 DA MA 1 1 1 1 1 
			 Deputy DA (AA NA) 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Serbia—Belgrade      
			 DA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Sierra Leone—Freetown      
			 DA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Singapore—Singapore City      
			 D Adv 1 1 1 1 1 
			 ADA RNLO 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Slovak Republic—Bratislava      
			 DA 1 (1)— 
			       
			 Somalia—Nairobi (Shadow Embassy based in Kenya)      
			 DA — — — 1 1 
			       
			 South Africa—Pretoria      
			 D Adv M Adv 1 1 1 1 1 
		
	
	
		
			 N Adv A Adv 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Spain—Madrid      
			 DA NA 1 1 1 1 1 
			 DDA 1 (2)— 
			       
			 Sri Lanka—Colombo      
			 D Adv 1 1 (1)— 
			       
			 Sudan—Khartoum      
			 DA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Sweden—Stockholm      
			 DA AA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Syria—Damascus      
			 DA 1 1 1 1 (5)— 
			       
			 Thailand—Bangkok      
			 DA 1 (1)— 
			       
			 Turkey—Ankara      
			 DA MA 1 1 1 1 1 
			 NAAA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Uganda—Kampala      
			 D Adv 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Ukraine—Kyiv      
			 DA MA NA AA 1 1 1 1 1 
			 AMA BLO — — 1 1 1 
			       
			 United Arab Emirates—Abu Dhabi      
			 DA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 United States of America—Washington      
			 DA & Hd BDS (US) 1 1 1 1 1 
			 NA 1 1 1 1 1 
			 MA 1 1 1 1 1 
			 AA 1 1 1 1 1 
			 DDA Royal Marine Attaché 1 1 1 1 1 
			 AMA 1 1 1 1 1 
			 AAA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 United States of America—UK Mission to UN New York      
			 MA 1 1 1 1 1 
			 AMA 1 1 1 1 1 
			       
			 Uzbekistan—Tashkent      
			 DA — — — 1 1 
			       
			 Yemen—Sana'a      
			 DA 1 1 1 1 1 
		
	
	
		
			       
			 Zimbabwe—Harare      
			 DA 1 1 1 1 1 
			 (1) Defence section closed. (2) Post disestablished. (3) Closed March 2012. (4) Defence section closed and post merged with DA2 Austria. (5) Temp closed from April 2012. Key: DA: Defence Attaché ADA: Acting Defence Attaché DDA: Deputy Defence Attaché NA: Naval Attaché MA: Military Advisor AA: Air Attaché A Adv: Air Advisor ANA: Assistant Naval Attaché AMA: Assistant Military Attaché AAA: Assistant Air Attaché SMA: Senior Military Attaché BDLS: British Defence Liaison Staff BLO: British Liaison Officer RNLO: Royal Navy Liaison Officer

Nuclear Weapons

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of recent reports of problems encountered during Exercise Senator 2011;
	(2)  from where nuclear experts are dispatched in case of a major nuclear incident involving the transportation of nuclear warheads;
	(3)  what the target time is for the arrival of nuclear experts from Abbey Wood to the scene of a major incident involving the transportation of nuclear warheads.

Philip Dunne: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) carries out regular nuclear safety exercises with other agencies to test robustly emergency plans and to identify areas for improvement. The Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator's assessment was clear that during Exercise Senator 2011 the MOD demonstrated its ability to cope in the highly unlikely event of an emergency. I have accepted this assessment and work is ongoing to address its findings.
	Each convoy is commanded by a senior MOD Police Officer who would therefore be on the scene to direct events in the unlikely event of an accident. In that event he would become the MOD Incident Commander. Appropriately qualified MOD personnel from DE&S headquarters in Bristol would be dispatched to the accident location by helicopter. Experts from other organisations would also provide support, including the Atomic Weapons Establishment, Institute of Naval Medicine and Defence Science and Technology Laboratory.
	The aim of appropriately qualified MOD personnel is to arrive on the scene as soon as possible. Due to the range of possible locations involved, the target of four hours applies to the time within which they should be ready to deploy from Bristol. This was achieved in Exercise Senator 2011.

Reviews

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when each review currently undertaken by his Department will (a) conclude and (b) publish.

Mark Francois: holding answer 17 June 2013
	We are delivering one of the most ambitious transformation programmes undertaken. Progress is reported to Parliament through the Ministry of Defence Annual Report and Accounts, the Prime Minister's annual report on implementation of the National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review, and Lord Levene's annual report to the Secretary of State for Defence on progress implementing the recommendations of his Defence Reform Review. We also publish a monthly update on progress against our Business Plan objectives on the No 10 website:
	http://transparency.number10.gov.uk/
	under this Government's initiative to increase transparency.
	In line with the new Defence Operating Model much of the wide-ranging work to transform defence is being taken forward locally by the relevant delegated authorities.

JUSTICE

Courts: Children

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many children in Essex were required to testify against a defendant in court in the last 12 months.

Oliver Heald: I have been asked to reply.
	The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) maintains a record of the number of child witnesses through the CPS Witness Management System (WMS). The WMS is a purpose built electronic system designed to enable Witness Care Unit (WCU) staff to identify cases involving children and other vulnerable witnesses and hence enable the proper management of issues arising in these cases. WMS is not intended to provide a definitive record of the number of victims and witnesses falling into these categories.
	In the period April 2012 to March 2013, CPS Essex recorded 757 witnesses under 18 years of age and, of these, 207 were required to attend court. It should be noted that the CPS does not record in WMS whether a witness who attended court actually gave evidence or not.

Electronic Tagging

David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what criteria he uses to calculate fines for non-delivery by private sector providers on each electronic monitoring contract;
	(2)  what fines have been ordered against each company in relation to each electronic monitoring contract in each of the last five years.

Jeremy Wright: The electronic monitoring contracts held by G4S and Serco in England and Wales have provisions for the authority to seek remedy through:
	(a) service credits if the Service Provider fails to provide the Services in accordance with the Service Levels of the contract
	(b) recovery of sums due under the agreement resulting from issues linked to non-delivery.
	Both contractors are currently being audited and while this is ongoing it would be inappropriate to disclose this.

Members: Correspondence

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice will reply to the letter from the hon. Members for Houghton and Sunderland South and for Sunderland Central of 20 March 2013. [Official Report, 3 July 2013, Vol. 565, c. 9MC.]

Jeremy Wright: I can confirm that a response was sent to the hon. Member in response to her letter dated 20 March 2013. The response was dated 22 April 2013 and a copy of the letter was sent to her office based in the House of Commons.

Prisoners: Older People

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice for what reasons prisoners of retirement age receive a weekly payment of £3.25.

Jeremy Wright: Convicted prisoners are not entitled to claim any state benefits while they are in prison and this includes the state retirement pension. Prisoners above state retirement age are not normally required to work although they may choose to do so, and will be paid if they do.
	Prisoners pay policy, including minimum pay rates is set out in Prison Service Order 4460 Prisoners Pay. A payment of £3.25 is made to prisoners above state retirement age who do not work. This helps them meet day to day expenses such as access to PIN phone credit and postage costs for letters in order to maintain family ties. They may also make purchases from the prison canteen and facilities list.

EDUCATION

Conditions of Employment

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many staff were retained on zero-hour contracts by (a) his Department and (b) the executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies for which he is responsible in (i) 2010-11, (ii) 2011-12 and (iii) 2012-13; and if he will make a statement.

Elizabeth Truss: The Department and its executive agencies did not employ any staff on zero hour contracts in 2010-11, 2011-12 or 2012-13.
	The Department does not hold this information about its non-departmental public bodies.

National Curriculum Tests

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education under what curricular students ending Key Stage 2 in 2014 will be (a) taught and (b) assessed.

Elizabeth Truss: Pupils in Year 6 during the 2013/14 academic year will be taught and assessed against the current national curriculum in English, mathematics and science. Under proposals to disapply parts of the national curriculum in 2013/14, schools will be able to decide whether to continue with, or depart from, current programmes of study for the foundation subjects(1).
	(1)( )Art and design, citizenship, computing, design and technology, history, geography, languages, music and PE.

School Meals

Gavin Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much is spent on daily school lunches for each student in the UK; and how much is brought in through purchasing each day.

Elizabeth Truss: The cost of school meals is met through a combination of money allocated from individual schools' budgets and payments made by parents purchasing meals for their children. The Department does not collect this information and therefore cannot provide an estimate on the total cost, or the amount brought in through purchasing.
	The Department for Education's responsibility extends only to schools in England.
	The Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), asked Henry Dimbleby and John Vincent, the co-founders of Leon restaurants, to lead an independent review of school food across England. They have been developing a School Food Plan which looks at good practice across the UK and abroad. The review will report soon.

School Meals

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  what guidance his Department provides to schools on school meals and the collection of payments from parents for such meals;
	(2)  what statutory responsibilities there are on schools for the provision of school meals.

Elizabeth Truss: The Education Act 2002 requires school governing bodies to provide school lunches for pupils where a meal is requested, and either the pupil is eligible for free school lunches, or it would not be unreasonable for lunches to be provided. Information and guidance is available on the Children's Food Trust website(1).
	It is for individual schools to decide how to collect payments from parents.
	The Secretary of State has asked Henry Dimbleby and John Vincent, the co-founders of Leon restaurants, to lead independent work to review school food across the country.
	Further details on the school food review can be found on the Department for Education website(2).
	(1)( )http://www.childrensfoodtrust.org.uk/
	(2)( )http://www.education.gov.uk/schoolfoodplan

Schools: Lancashire

Jake Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  how much funding was given to schools in Rossendale to spend on improving PE and sport in the latest period for which figures are available;
	(2)  how much funding was given to schools in Blackburn with Darwen to spend on improving PE and sport in the latest period for which figures are available.

Edward Timpson: As part of their core provision all state-funded schools receive funding to provide a broad and balanced curriculum which includes PE.
	The Secretary of State has also allocated an additional £65 million in funding to state schools with at least 20 secondary aged pupils for the academic years 2011/12 and 2012/13 under the secondary teacher release scheme. This funding provides for the release of a specialist PE teacher one day each week to create more opportunities for competitive sport.
	Under this scheme, schools in Blackburn with Darwen received a total of £98,800 in 2012/13. Schools in Rossendale and Darwen constituency received £15,200 in 2012/13.
	On 16 March the Prime Minister announced a further £150 million per year in new, cross-Government funding for improving PE and sport in schools for academic years 2013/14 and 2014/15. This funding will be made available to all maintained schools with primary aged pupils and will be ring-fenced with schools required to spend it on improving their provision of PE and sport. The amount of funding allocated to each school will be determined by the number of primary-aged pupils.

Special Educational Needs

Damian Hinds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the total number of children is in each local authority area; how many such children are classified under (a) School Action and (b) School Action Plus; how many have Special Educational Needs (SEN) statements; and how many SEN tribunals were requested and how many SEN tribunals were actually commenced in the last year for which data are available.

Edward Timpson: We have interpreted the request for the total number of children in each local authority to mean the total number of pupils. A table setting out information on the number of pupils attending schools in each local authority as well as the number with statements of special educational needs (SEN), the number at School Action Plus and the number at School Action has been placed in the House Libraries. This information can also be found in the publication 'Special Educational Needs in England, January 2012' available on the government website.(1)
	HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) administers appeals to the First-tier Tribunal Special Educational Needs and Disability (FtT SEND). Statistics regarding the FtT SEND are reported against each academic year.
	The following table shows the total number of appeals registered with HMCTS for the 2011-12 academic year by local authorities in England. FtT SEND does not publish statistics on the numbers of actual hearings commenced.
	(1) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/special-educational- needs-in-england-january-2012
	
		
			 First-tier tribunal (special educational needs and disability) appeals registered per local authority, 1 September to 31 August 
			 Local authority Appeals registered 2011-12 
			 Barking and Dagenham 25 
			 Barnet 33 
			 Barnsley 8 
			 Bath and NE Somerset — 
			 Bedfordshire — 
			 Bexley 36 
			 Birmingham 100 
			 Blackburn 0 
			 Blackpool — 
			 Bolton — 
			 Bournemouth — 
			 Bracknell Forest 8 
			 Bradford 19 
			 Brent 30 
			 Brighton and Hove 44 
			 Bristol City 29 
			 Bromley 49 
			 Buckinghamshire 33 
			 Bury 5 
			 Calderdale — 
			 Cambridgeshire 51 
			 Camden 16 
			 Central Bedfordshire 11 
			 Cheshire East 24 
			 Cheshire West and Chester 5 
			 Cornwall 19 
			 Coventry 6 
			 Croydon 54 
			 Cumbria 26 
			 Darlington — 
			 Derby City 20 
			 Derbyshire 57 
			 Devon 33 
			 Doncaster 7 
			 Dorset 7 
			 Dudley 7 
			 Durham 34 
			 Ealing 56 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 8 
			 East Sussex 51 
			 Enfield 72 
			 Essex 160 
			 Gateshead 7 
			 Gloucestershire 37 
			 Greenwich 34 
			 Hackney 59 
			 Halton — 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 19 
			 Hampshire 110 
			 Haringey 26 
			 Harrow 21 
			 Hartlepool 0 
			 Havering 10 
			 Herefordshire 9 
			 Hertfordshire 110 
			 Hillingdon 26 
		
	
	
		
			 Hounslow 13 
			 Isle of Wight 19 
			 Isles of Scilly 0 
			 Islington 5 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 22 
			 Kent 180 
			 Kingston upon Thames 13 
			 Kingston-upon-Hull, City 16 
			 Kirklees 12 
			 Knowsley — 
			 Lambeth 27 
			 Lancashire 80 
			 Leeds 15 
			 Leicester City 18 
			 Leicestershire 23 
			 Lewisham 58 
			 Lincolnshire 27 
			 Liverpool 17 
			 Luton — 
			 Manchester 28 
			 Medway 35 
			 Merton 13 
			 Middlesbrough — 
			 Milton Keynes 13 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne — 
			 Newham 28 
			 Newport 0 
			 Norfolk 69 
			 North East Lincolnshire 5 
			 North Lincolnshire — 
			 North Somerset 30 
			 North Tyneside 5 
			 North Yorkshire 7 
			 Northamptonshire 36 
			 Northumberland 13 
			 Nottingham City 19 
			 Nottinghamshire 30 
			 Oldham 18 
			 Oxfordshire 14 
			 Peterborough 5 
			 Plymouth — 
			 Poole — 
			 Portsmouth 6 
			 Reading 8 
			 Redbridge 28 
			 Redcar and Cleveland — 
			 Richmond upon Thames 11 
			 Rochdale — 
			 Rotherham 5 
			 Rutland — 
			 Salford 21 
			 Sandwell 12 
			 Sefton 14 
			 Sheffield 54 
			 Shropshire — 
			 Slough 7 
			 Solihull 15 
			 Somerset 31 
			 South Gloucestershire 5 
			 South Tyneside 5 
			 Southampton 28 
		
	
	
		
			 Southend 13 
			 Southwark 34 
			 St Helens — 
			 Staffordshire 49 
			 Stockport 12 
			 Stockton-on-Tees 10 
			 Stoke-on-Trent 15 
			 Suffolk 65 
			 Sunderland — 
			 Surrey 140 
			 Sutton 45 
			 Swindon 9 
			 Tameside 8 
			 Telford and Wrekin 16 
			 Thurrock 12 
			 Torbay — 
			 Tower Hamlets 7 
			 Trafford 14 
			 Wakefield — 
			 Walsall 8 
			 Waltham Forest 24 
			 Wandsworth 38 
			 Warrington 7 
			 Warwickshire 19 
			 West Berkshire 6 
			 West Sussex 33 
			 Westminster 13 
			 Wigan — 
			 Wiltshire 46 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead 12 
			 Wirral 9 
			 Wokingham 9 
			 Wolverhampton 0 
			 Worcestershire 38 
			 York City — 
			   
			 Total 3,600 
			 '—' denotes small value suppressed to protect confidentiality. Source: HMCTS.

Teachers

Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to achieve gender balance in teaching in primary and lower schools. [Official Report, 26 June 2013, Vol. 565, c. 5-6MC.]

David Laws: The Government has made it clear that it would like to see the proportion of male trainees growing over time. The most recent Initial Teacher training (ITT) census in November 2012 showed a record number and percentage of male graduates entering ITT.
	The proportion of qualified male teaching staff in nursery and primary (including lower) education increased from 16% to 19% between 2010 and 2011. Workforce figures for 2012 are not yet available.
	In July 2012 the Teaching Agency (TA) launched the Primary Experience Programme, which allowed male graduates interested in primary teacher training to have 10 days’ work experience in a school. 1,000 places have been made available in schools across the country and the programme’s impact is currently being assessed by the National College for Teaching and Leadership.
	The TA also regularly puts male graduates in touch with a range of inspirational male primary teachers, to get an insight into teachers' motivations, career choices, challenges and the rewards of day-to-day life in a classroom.

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Billing

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment his Department has made of the savings it could achieve by paying its suppliers early in return for rebates.

Gregory Barker: The Department aims to pay its suppliers quickly to assist small business and promote the economy. Suppliers are encouraged to be innovative in their thinking when preparing bids and to provide any suggestions and solutions that may provide a more cost efficient and value for money solution.
	Contracts of the Department, state that payment shall normally be paid within 30 days. Although our target is to pay invoices within 30 days, typically invoices are paid within five days. The Department publishes these statistics, please see the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-energy-climate-change/about/procurement#prompt-payments
	The Department, gains value for money by competing work among a number of suppliers, using market forces to provide the best possible rates for its work.

Electricity: Scotland

Margaret Curran: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent discussions or correspondence he has had with (a) Ministers or officials in the Scottish Government, (b) Ofgem, (c) Scottish Hydro-Electric Transmission Ltd and (d) Comhairle nan Eilean Siar regarding the construction of the sub-sea interconnector between Gravir and Ullapool.

Michael Fallon: Details of meetings between Ministers and external organisations are published quarterly on the Departmental website at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-energy-climate-change/series/ministers-meeting-with-external-organisations
	Letters to Ministers concerning the transmission link to the Western Isles this year were received from David Gardner, Director of Transmission at Scottish Hydro Electricity Transmission plc on 22 January and Fergus Ewing, Scottish Government Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism on 5 March and 12 April. Replies to the first two letters were sent on 14 February and 12 March and the last was discussed at a meeting involving my officials on 29 April.
	In addition my officials have been in regular contact with all these organisations about this transmission link, including at meetings of the Scottish Islands Renewables Group.

Energy: Meters

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how the introduction of smart meters in domestic properties will be funded.

Gregory Barker: Energy suppliers will continue to be responsible for purchasing and installing meters. Similarly, under current arrangements consumers pay for the cost of their metering and meter maintenance through their energy bills, and this will be the same for smart metering. Taking into account the range of costs and benefits arising from the roll-out of smart metering, we expect the average dual fuel household to realise an annual bill saving of around £24 by 2020.

Fuel Poverty: Greater Manchester

David Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the proportion of households in (a) Greater Manchester and (b) Bolton classified as fuel poor.

Gregory Barker: In 2011, the proportion of households estimated to be in fuel poverty in Greater Manchester county was 16.6% and in Bolton local authority 16.3%.
	These figures are based on the 10% measure of fuel poverty, i.e. households are deemed to be in fuel poverty if they need to spend more than 10% of their income on fuel in order to achieve an adequate level of warmth.

Geothermal Power

Sarah Newton: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when the Deep Geothermal Review Study, which he has commissioned from Atkins Global, will be published.

Gregory Barker: DECC expects to receive and publish the report by the middle of summer.

Mining: Allowances

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the average annual payment has been to households in receipt of entitlements under the national concessionary fuel scheme in the last five years.

Michael Fallon: Under the terms of the DECC's obligations for the National Concessionary Fuel Agreements originally entered into by British Coal, beneficiaries can receive entitlements of solid fuel or cash in lieu and they can move from cash to fuel and vice versa as many times as they want. The majority of beneficiaries now receive their entitlement as cash in lieu.
	The value of the cash in lieu entitlements is subject to annual increases linked to the RPI Heat and Light index (July rate) applied from October onwards each year.
	The average annual payments of cash in lieu over the last five years are as follows:
	
		
			  Cash average annual payment (£) 
			 2008-09 411.18 
			 2009-10 482.86 
			 2010-11 523.78 
			 2011-12 524.92 
			 2012-13 553.42 
		
	
	The value of the solid fuel entitlements provided under DECC's obligations is linked to a combination of inflators depending on the fuel products (December rates) also applied annually to contract prices from April onwards each year.
	The average annual tonnage of solid fuel entitlements over the last five years are as follows:
	
		
			  Fuel average annual tonnes 
			 2008-09 4.152 
			 2009-10 4.151 
			 2010-11 4.147 
			 2011-12 4.149 
			 2012-13 4.153

Mining: Allowances

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many households in receipt of entitlements under the national concessionary fuel scheme received (a) solid fuel and (b) a cash allowance in each of the last 10 years.

Michael Fallon: The following table shows the number of households in receipt of concessionary fuel entitlements under DECC's obligations for the National Concessionary Fuel Scheme over the last 10 years, broken down into cash in lieu and solid fuel beneficiaries.
	Please note that beneficiaries in nursing home care have also been included as part of the total numbers.
	
		
			  Fuel Cash Total 
			 1 April:    
			 2003 45,289 86,869 132,158 
			 2004 37,901 86,725 124,626 
			 2005 31,589 86,162 117,751 
			 2006 27,187 84,266 111,453 
			 2007 23,623 81,105 104,728 
			 2008 20,658 77,821 98,479 
			 2009 18,304 73,802 92,106 
			 2010 16,338 70,135 86,473 
			 2011 14,410 66,194 80,604 
			 2012 12,802 62,259 75,061 
			 2013 11,574 58,845 70,419

Mining: Allowances

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many households in (a) the UK and (b) each parliamentary constituency have received entitlements under the national concessionary fuel scheme in each of the last 10 years.

Michael Fallon: The following table shows the total number of households in receipt of concessionary fuel under DECC's obligations for the National Concessionary Fuel Scheme, broken down into cash in lieu and fuel beneficiaries.
	
		
			 As at 1 April: Fuel Cash Total 
			 2003 45,289 86,869 132,158 
			 2004 37,901 86,725 124,626 
			 2005 31,589 86,162 117,751 
			 2006 27,187 84,266 111,453 
			 2007 23,623 81,105 104,728 
			 2008 20,658 77,821 98,479 
			 2009 18,304 73,802 92,106 
			 2010 16,338 70,135 86,473 
			 2011 14,410 66,194 80,604 
			 2012 12,802 62,259 75,061 
			 2013 11,574 58,845 70,419 
		
	
	We do not have information by parliamentary constituency as the entitlement management database used by the Department's contractor does not hold beneficiary information by constituency as it is not required for operational delivery of the scheme.

Mining: Allowances

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate his Department has made of the number of households in receipt of entitlements under the national concessionary fuel scheme in each of the next five years.

Michael Fallon: The table shows the number of households in receipt of concessionary fuel entitlements for which DECC is responsible under the obligations arising from the 1994 Coal Industry Act over the last five years, broken down into cash in lieu and solid fuel beneficiaries.
	Please note that beneficiaries in Nursing Home care have also been included as part of the total numbers.
	
		
			  Fuel Cash Total 
			 2013-14 10,771 56,768 67,539 
			 2014-15 9,258 52,627 61,885 
			 2015-16 7,924 48,530 56,454 
			 2016-17 6,753 44,507 51,260 
			 2017-18 5,729 40,589 46,318 
			 2018-19 4,836 36,803 41,639

Nuclear Power

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many individuals who have worked on the Government's nuclear policy have been made redundant since 2010.

Gregory Barker: The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) was created in October 2008.
	DECC is one of the smallest Departments in Whitehall (less than 1,700 staff) and has not made any of its civil servants redundant since its inception.

Renewable Energy

Jason McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what government subsidies were for (a) onshore wind and (b) solar panels in (i) 2010, (ii) 2011 and (iii) 2012.

Michael Fallon: Renewable electricity generation from large-scale onshore wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) plants is supported through the Renewables Obligation, while support for small-scale generation is available through the Feed-in Tariff scheme. The support levels for each scheme are shown in the tables and links, and are given for financial years.
	
		
			 Renewables Obligation 
			  Number of Renewable Obligation Certificates per Megawatt Hour of renewable generation 
			 Technology 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 
			 Onshore wind 1 1 1 
			 Solar PV 2 2 2 
		
	
	Feed-in Tariffs
	The original tariffs available for onshore wind and solar PV during 2010-11 are set out in the following table:
	
		
			 Technology Scale Tariff (p/kWh) Year 1: 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011 
			 PV =4 kW (new build) 36.1 
			 PV =4 kW (retrofit) 41.3 
			 PV >4-10kW 36.1 
			 PV >10-100kW 31.4 
			 PV >100kW-5MW 29.3 
			 PV Stand alone 29.3 
			 Wind =1.5kW 34.5 
			 Wind >1.5-15kW 26.7 
			 Wind >15-I00kW 24.1 
			 Wind >100-500kW 18.8 
			 Wind >500kW-1.5MW 9.4 
			 Wind >1.5MW-5MW 4.5 
		
	
	In 2011-12 and 2012-13 there were a number of changes to tariffs, details of which are published on Ofgem's webpage:
	http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Sustainability/Environment/fits/ad/Pages/ad.aspx
	More recent tariffs (from 1 August 2012) are also published by Ofgem:
	http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Sustainability/Environment/fits/tariff-tables/Pages/index.aspx

Renewable Energy

Jason McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the cost per unit of energy for the total of solar panels and wind turbines in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012.

Michael Fallon: The costs of generation for solar PV and wind turbines for 2009-10 to 2012-13 were estimated when banding was introduced to the renewables obligation in 2009. The costs for offshore wind turbines were reviewed again in 2010 when the level of support was increased to 2ROCs/MWh. Cost assumptions for all technologies were updated during the recent banding review for the period 2013-17 and can be accessed here:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/renewables-obligation-banding-review
	https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/solar-pv-banded-support-levels
	In 2012, the cost assumptions for solar PV were updated and can be accessed here:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/feed-in-tariffs-first-phase-of-a-comprehensive-review
	The wind turbine cost assumptions were updated and can be accessed here:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/tariffs-for-non-pv-technologies-comprehensive-review-phase-2b

Renewable Energy

Jason McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when he will next review the Government's policy on subsidising wind turbines and solar panels.

Michael Fallon: Support for large-scale wind and solar PV generating stations was reviewed as part of the comprehensive banding review of the renewables obligation (RO). This review set support rates for 2013-17. The latest UK onshore wind costs were further examined during the call for evidence on onshore wind. The results of the call for evidence were published on 6 June(1) and confirmed that support for onshore wind would be maintained at the levels set through the banding review. The Secretary of State has the power to review RO support levels if one or more of the statutory conditions are met, for example, if there is evidence of a significant change in costs. However, we have no plans to review RO support rates again before the scheme closes to new accreditations on 1 April 2017.
	Government has recently reformed the Feed-in Tariff (FITs) scheme, which subsidies both wind and solar generation. We are continually monitoring deployment under the scheme and have no plans to review the current tariffs.
	(1) https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/onshore-wind-call- for-evidence

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Betting Shops

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on the clustering of betting shops.

Hugh Robertson: I regularly discuss a range of matters of shared departmental interests, including gambling, with colleagues in the Department for Communities and Local Government. Local authorities have a range of planning and licensing powers available to deal with problems related to betting shops, including clustering, such as an Article 4 direction.

Broadband: Rural Areas

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what progress she has made on delivering broadband to rural areas.

Maria Miller: The first street cabinets have now gone live for the rural broadband projects in North Yorkshire, Wales, Surrey and Lancashire, giving superfast broadband coverage to approximately 37,000 premises in these areas, with many more to come.
	I was also impressed by the efforts of community projects on my recent visit to Lancashire to see the Broadband for the Rural North (B4RN) project and would like to thank both my hon. Friend the Member for Lancaster and Fleetwood (Eric Ollerenshaw) for inviting me and Barry Ford from B4RN for taking time to explain the project.

Arts

Harriet Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent meetings she has had with local enterprise partnerships to discuss the arts and the creative industries.

Edward Vaizey: holding answer 17 June 2013
	All external meetings, including those with LEPs, are published on the departmental website in accordance with Cabinet Office guidelines:
	http://www.transparency.culture.gov.uk/category/other/meetings/

Conditions of Employment: English Language

Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what rules exist concerning the speaking of English in the workplace.

Helen Grant: holding answer 10 June 2013
	There is no legislation specifically concerning the use of English, or any other language, in the workplace.
	In appropriate circumstances an employer may be able to require that a specific language is spoken, or is capable of being understood, in a particular working environment. However, in order to avoid the risk of this constituting indirect discrimination, any such requirement must be a proportionate way of achieving a legitimate aim.

Direct Selling

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps she is taking to protect the public from unsolicited telephone calls.

Edward Vaizey: Protection is provided through the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) 2003, which prohibits unsolicited marketing telephone calls to numbers that are registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS), the PECR also covers situations where a caller is advised that further calls should not be made. The TPS is a free service and more than 19 million numbers are currently registered with them. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) considers complaints about breaches of the PECR and can issue a fine of up to £500,000 for the most serious breaches.
	I am pressing for more action to be taken in this area, with the ICO, Office of Communications (Ofcom) and TPS working together to make improvements. The ICO has increased the resources devoted to enforcement of the PECR and on 18 March 2013, served its first monetary penalty under PECR of £90,000, to a company that was making unsolicited marketing calls. On 18 June, ICO issued monetary penalties totalling £225,000 to two companies and a further 10 investigations are ongoing:
	http://www.ico.org.uk/enforcement/action/calls
	Also, Ofcom has improved information available to consumers online at:
	http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/tell-us/telecoms/privacy
	which provides clearer advice on how to avoid unsolicited calls, texts and e-mails and a new Consumer Guide, signposts the correct place to make a complaint:
	http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/2012/10/tackling-nuisance-calls-and-messages
	In addition, on 17 April I held a Roundtable meeting with representatives from consumer groups, service providers and MPs, which considered ideas and further possible improvements. A further meeting is expected to take place before recess.
	I welcome the robust enforcement action from the ICO and expect them to continue with similar tough measures against other companies as well.

Internet: Harassment

Steve Rotheram: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans she has to meet Facebook to discuss internet trolling.

Edward Vaizey: I recently held a meeting with major internet service providers, mobile operators, search engines and social media companies, including Facebook, to examine what more can be done to reduce the risk of internet harms.

Internet: Offences Against Children

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent discussions she has had with her ministerial colleagues about reducing the prevalence of child abuse images on the internet.

Edward Vaizey: holding answer 10 June 2013
	Working in partnership with law enforcement agencies, industry and charities, Government is taking significant steps to block access to illegal child sexual abuse content on the internet, to remove such material, and to take action against those responsible for it.
	I recently held a summit with major internet service providers, mobile operators, search engines and social media companies to discuss what more could be done to minimise internet harms, such as access to illegal child abuse images. I had conversations with ministerial colleagues in advance of that summit, colleagues were present at the meeting and I will be discussing the outcomes of that meeting with ministerial colleagues.

Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what representations she has received from the Science Museum Group regarding the future of the Museum of Science and Industry (Manchester); whether Ministers in her Department have visited the Museum of Science and Industry (Manchester) since May 2010; and what steps she is taking to safeguard the future of the Museum of Science and Industry (Manchester).

Edward Vaizey: The Secretary of State has not received any representations from the Science Museum Group regarding the future of the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. A list of ministerial meetings since May 2010 is available on the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Transparency website, which can be found at this web address:
	www.transparency.culture.gov.uk
	The operation of the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester is a matter for the Science Museum Group. In the current spending period, cuts in resource funding for DCMS-sponsored museums have been limited to 15% in real terms, to protect frontline services and to ensure free admission to the permanent collections.

Opening of Parliament

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will take steps to ensure that Union flags are flown in Parliament Square on future state openings of Parliament.

Hugh Robertson: Ceremonial arrangements for the state opening of Parliament are a matter for the Palace of Westminster and the Earl Marshal, who in turn could make such a recommendation to this Department.

Press: Regulation

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  whether any changes have been (a) proposed and (b) agreed to the cross-party Royal Charter on Self-Regulation of the Press following her discussions with the Scottish Executive; and when she expects those discussions to conclude;
	(2)  what discussions she and officials or Ministers of her Department have had with representatives of the Press Board of Finance (PressBof) regarding the (a) content of and (b) timing of the submission of PressBof's Royal Charter on press regulation to the Privy Council;
	(3)  with reference to the Application for Emergency Debate, 18 March 2013, Official Report, column 630, on the Royal Charter on Press Conduct, if she will publish any amendments to the proposed Royal Charter which have been (a) proposed and (b) agreed to following her discussions with the Scottish Executive.

Edward Vaizey: I welcome the Scottish Parliament's recent vote in favour of supporting the cross party Royal Charter agreed on 18 March by the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. DCMS officials are currently working with those from the Scottish Government on the technical amendments necessary to ensure the cross-party Charter is operable in Scotland, reflecting in particular Scotland's devolved responsibilities and Scots law. These discussions are yet to conclude.

Press: Regulation

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 3 June 2013, Official Report, column 803W, on press: regulation, for what reasons she did not submit the Royal Charter on self-regulation in the press to the Privy Council (a) following the debate in the House on 18 March 2013 and (b) before 30 April 2013.

Edward Vaizey: Prior to 30 April, the Government was supporting the progression through Parliament of other elements of the cross-party agreement of 18 March, via both the Crime and Courts Bill and the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill.

Science Museum Group

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made of the effect of reductions in the budget of the (a) Science Museum Group and (b) Museum of Science and Industry (Manchester) on visitor numbers; and whether she has any plans to introduce visitor charges at those museums.

Edward Vaizey: The operation of the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester is a matter for the Science Museum Group. In the current spending period, cuts in resource funding for DCMS-sponsored museums have been limited to 15% in real terms, to protect frontline services and to ensure free admission to the permanent collections. The Government is not considering the reintroduction of entrance fees, and in line with the coalition manifesto, there are no plans to review the policy of free admission to national museums and galleries.

Sign Language

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps her Department is taking to ensure the services it offers are accessible to British Sign Language users.

Maria Miller: We recognise the importance of removing the barriers deaf and hearing impaired people face, where they might otherwise be at a substantial disadvantage, compared to the way others access a particular service.
	DCMS, which includes the Government Equalities Officer, is encouraging organisations to explore how they can meet the needs of BSL customers through developing a mix of accessible contact strategies for their disabled and older customers via email, SMS, instant messenger, text relay and Video Relay Services (VRS). These initiatives will assist many people who are deaf and hearing impaired.

US White House

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether the Government plans to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the burning of the White House, Washington DC, US by the British army on 24 August 1814; and if she will make a statement.

Edward Vaizey: The Government has no plans to commemorate this.

WOMEN AND EQUALITIES

Women and Protected Groups: Funding

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities what recent discussions she has had with her ministerial colleagues ahead of the spending review to ensure that funding for women and protected groups is not subject to disproportionate reductions.

Maria Miller: I have regular discussions with my ministerial colleagues and all Departments consider equality in policy making as a matter of course. The Treasury works to ensure that Departments fully understand how to analyse equalities when preparing their spending review plans in order to avoid disproportionate impacts on groups with protected characteristics.

Single-tier Pension: Women

Nia Griffith: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities what assessment she has made of the likely effect of the planned single tier pension on women.

Steve Webb: The Government expects that around 700,000 women will benefit from the single-tier valuation in the first 10 years, receiving on average £9 a week more in state pension.
	The single-tier pension brings forward by over a decade the point at which women have equivalent state pension outcomes to men.

Senior Public Sector Positions: Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic People

Keith Vaz: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities what steps she is taking to increase the representation of black, Asian and minority ethnic people in senior positions in the public sector.

Helen Grant: This Government is committed to increasing the diversity of the senior civil service, including ethnic minority representation at these levels. Current programmes which support diversity in the senior civil service or the grades that flow into it include the recently launched Positive Action Pathway, the “Growing Talent” programme and the “Summer Diversity Internship Programme”. In the senior civil service, 4% are from a BME background, up from 2.4% in 2003.
	In the public sector more generally, the positive action provisions within the Equality Act 2010 are designed to be used by public bodies to increase the numbers of black and minority ethnic employees in areas where the numbers are disproportionately low.

Gender Recognition

Simon Hughes: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities what steps the Government Equalities Office is taking to create and facilitate supportive and safe environments for non-gendered people and their families.

Helen Grant: holding answer 3 June 2013
	Transgender people, including those who identify as non-gendered, and their families have the right to live free from attack or abuse and we have already legislated to increase the length of sentences for those convicted of hate crime directed at transgender people. This Government is strongly committed to advancing equality for transgender people. In December 2011, we published the world's first ever action plan to advance transgender equality in all areas of public policy, including in schools, workplace and health care. We continue to deliver our commitments in the action plan.

Sign Language

Simon Kirby: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities what steps the Government Equalities Office is taking to ensure the services it offers are accessible to British Sign Language users.

Maria Miller: We recognise the importance of removing the barriers deaf and hearing impaired people face, where they might otherwise be at a substantial disadvantage, compared to the way others access a particular service.
	DCMS, which includes the Government Equalities Office, is encouraging organisations to explore how they can meet the needs of BSL customers, through developing a mix of accessible contact strategies for their disabled and older customers via e-mail, SMS, instant messenger, text relay and video relay services (VRS). These initiatives will assist many people who are deaf and hearing impaired.